Whatever its name
by AkiraRedtiger
Summary: Getting strangled by Thanos should kill you. As always, for Loki, it's not that simple. The page looks blank, but one can still write on it. Maybe a story about strange names, about truth and lies, about venomous snakes, and about a trickster god trapped in an annoying place, which neither he nor the human he met knows how to call.
1. No Plan at All

**Author's note: I forgot to add the disclaimer. Of course, all rights reserved to Marvel here.**

He had no plan at all. He really thought that this should have been the end.

He clearly remembered a hand crushing his throat, then the suffocation, the pain, some distant noises, flashes of colour, the cold and fading away. Next, he was here. Because _this_ needed to be somewhere, right?

Better not be Valhalla, though. It was quite empty, for a heaven. He felt pretty much not dead, that is to say alive, but obviously he could not be sure.

He had given up any hope of victory when he had decided to face Thanos. He had just foolishly hoped that, at least, his desperate attempt would give his brother a chance to get out alive. But all he had seen was Thor's powerless look, all he had done was strengthening the Mad Titan by giving him the Tesseract, and all he had left was a sentence repeating over and over in his head.

 _You really are the worst, brother._

He was. He even was the worst at finding his way after death. Seriously.

Maybe this was Hell. That made much more sense. After everything he had done, how could he hope to enter Valhalla? This was a place for heroes, not for tricksters. Or perhaps Valhalla was only destined to Asgardians. And he was not Asgardian.

It was hard to focus on his last memories. First, he was strangled. Second, he saw some blue and purple explosions all around him. Third, he passed out. Oh, and there was the cold too.

A real, deep cold. Yes, cold was the last thing he felt before he opened his eyes. He was becoming more and more certain not to be dead. What had happened to him? Maybe this was the Tesseract? Was it Thanos who had intentionally sent him here? Or was it Heimdall, not dead either, who had used the Bifrost?

The fact was, he had no idea about where he was, how he got there, or what he could do. Loki of Asgard had no plan at all.


	2. The White Prison

He could not see anything, hear anything, feel anything. Whiteness and silence. The void of nothingness. So, was it one of the ultimate powers of the Tesseract, he wondered, to open gates _in-between_ universes? He could not go in nor go out, he was stuck in the door frame to another dimension. Ironically, he recalled the threat of the Other.

"You will long for something as sweet as pain".

Clearly, this was not what he had in mind at that time, and yet it was true. Absolute pain was far better than absolute nothing because pain was at least still a thing. And now, he was surrounded by nothing.

"No!" He suddenly shouted.

His voice was pure anger. How could he be lost, not in universes, but amid them? He had already fallen from the Bifrost, had seen worlds of marvel and horror, and what kept him alive during those years of wandering was his mind. His powerful mind, his greatest ally, the source of his magic. And now that his mind was as trapped as his body, there was not anything to focus on.

He shouted again, and again, screams of rage. Still being able to hear his own voice reassured him a little. The same thoughts were roaming in his head: Thor, is he alive, did he escape, of course he is alive, how could _he_ escape now, get out of this place, concentrate on something, was he only still alive, was it his fate, eternal suffering…

"Damn you all!" He roared.

He fell on his knees. He could not feel any physical exhaustion but he was tired. What happened to him? Did he even had a chance to get out of here? Then, little by little, he calmed down. He urged himself to take slow, deep breaths. Stillness. Control. His body gradually relaxed. Now, he had to find a way to see if his magic was still effective.

What followed was a succession of attempts, failures, other attempts, things that looked like successes but clearly were not, and more attempts. The most frustrating thing of all was that his magic was still here, it was part of him, he could feel it, but he could not reach it. Countless times he thought of a new way to cast a spell in or out of this empty place, countless times he only stumbled across an echo of himself, nothing more. But he did not give up. He could not give up!

Most of the time, after an umpteenth try, he would briefly laugh or grind his teeth out of frustration, but he immediately came back to his primary focus. Any kind of creation, be it material or psychic, did not seem to be possible here. Establishing contact with anyone he knew was out of reach as well.

He waited. And waited. He increasingly felt a burning sensation in his head. Madness, he knew, for this place was a torture of his soul, not of his body. He could not feel pain, nor tiredness, nor hunger, and this would ultimately drive him crazy. But he could not surrender! Not like this! An eternity of insanity? Never!

"I cannot yield…" He whispered to himself.

He wanted to sleep, to put his mind at rest, even for a few seconds, but he could not. He obviously had something in him that could create the way out, he just did not know it yet…

Nevertheless, doubt was pernicious. Doubt disturbed his concentration, murmuring "how long has it been since you arrived?" and "are you sure you are still alive?", sparkling fear, not brief but lasting, gut-wrenching fear, which rooted in every corner of his mind. He was powerless. And now, afraid.

At first, he fought it with all his might. Gradually, he felt his mental barriers breaking. It could be true, after all… O Chaos, O Pain and Disorder, how delightful they appeared compared to this immense void! He had nothing to cling to. He was truly alone.

Enough of this. He tried to silence the unbearable noise in his mind, unconsciously putting his hands on his head. He did not move for a long time. That did not matter, he had stopped trying to measure time way before. And suddenly, he heard a voice.

"Who are you?"

* * *

She clearly saw him. From now on, it was undeniable, someone else could access Whatever-its-name.

It was white. White and empty. Very few things existed. Since her presence here was purely mental and not physical, she couldn't tell if there was matter, like oxygen atoms. Or gravity. Or even light.

And yet, she could see him. He was hunched, his hands over his head. He has long hair, she thought. They masked the parts of his face that were not hidden by his hands (long hands as well) thus she had no idea of what he looked like. She came closer.

He was breathing heavily. His clothes seemed well-fashioned but they were torn at many places. He had been fighting someone. Or something. Which was maybe chasing him…

He was in pain. How long since he had arrived here, she couldn't tell, mostly because time did not exist here. Whatever-its-name was uncanny, terrifying, and yet she had found a peace she had never felt before.

"Who are you?" She asked.

The effect was immediate. He leaped on his feet at an incredible speed, his eyes wide open. They were green. His face was pale and bruised. He looked incredibly tired and ferocious. Like a desperate beast ready to kill before being killed. Like a Naja snake…

" _How_ did you end up here?" She asked again, genuinely curious.

She was not afraid. She had no reason to be. But she remained cautious. She watched every single movement he made, listened to each flickering of his breath, ready to counter any attack. And yet, she was craving answers, from the first living being she was able to talk to in this place.

"How did _you_ end up here?" He suddenly replicated "Did _he_ send you? What for? Tell me!"

Not quite what she expected. He was surprised, afraid and angry, a dangerous combination that needed counterbalance. She was going to give him some answers. The discussion would surely be long. She did not mind.

* * *

 **So, that's it for my first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it!**

 **Suggested end song** **: End credits of the Avengers movie (ok, that one was easy, but more original ones in the next chapters).**

 **Now's the time to clarify some elements:**

 **This story will have MANY different tones. Some chapters will be fun, some others tragic, some others in between. I will do my best to make it as greatly destabilizing as possible.**

 **One of my main objectives is to develop the magical/mystical potential of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We caught a glimpse of it with Dr Strange but, to me, not much has been done with Loki. Many of his abilities are just mentioned in the movies, not shown.**

 **This story is based on the characters from the movies. I am not such a fan nor an expert in comic books, however Whatever-its-Name is directly inspired from "The Land of Couldn't Be Shouldn't Be" (in different comics, I don't remember where it was first introduced).**

 **The first chapters will mainly focus on the impact Whatever-its-Name has. If any of you knows something about the White Torture, it's kind of the same concept. I think that it's the most terrible kind of torture I have ever heard about. For those who don't know, it consists of locking someone in a white, soundproof room, with only white rice to eat. The person is put in a straightjacket if he tries to talk. At first, it can appear ridiculous compared to all forms of physical pain, but if we think about it, not being able to do or feel anything for an undetermined period of time can be really traumatizing.**

 **But there will also be some other developments. Don't worry, I will not write an entire chapter about psychological trauma in Whatever-its-Name.**

 **To my mind, Loki is really dead in Infinity War. I don't see any way he could come back in the movies. But that's what fanfictions are for!**

 **To conclude, English is not my native language. I promise I will do my best not to be too French here.**

 **New chapters next Saturday!**

 **La bise!**


	3. And they opened their eyes

The woman was peculiar. Not in a bad way, but not in a good way either. She seemed extremely serene in this place, as if she was simply taking her morning walk.

He was still carefully staring at her, ready to react to the slightest move she would make.

"I was not sent by anyone" She answered calmly "I end up here every time I want to. I don't know who is the "he" you mentioned."

She slowly started to sit down. Quite small, even for a woman. Short, curly dark hair. Brown eyes. Suntanned skin.

"Where do you come from, then? And how did you get here?" He rapidly asked.

"I come from Australia, on Earth. Can I ask you some questions too?"

"From Midgard?!" He exclaimed, deliberately ignoring her request.

At first, he could not believe it. How could some mere humans travel between universes simply because they _want to_? Then, he remembered his encounter with this Earth sorcerer with a red cape and some sparkling teleportation rings. Not really something he was keen on recalling, as he had been trapped and ridiculed so quickly by this petty magician. But he had realized that there were beings with powerful psychic powers on this planet.

"Midgard…" The woman said "I like the sound of it. Why do you call Earth this way?"

She was casually sit now, while he was still standing above her. Either she was unbelievably good at hiding the marks of surprise, either nothing in the entire universe (and beyond) could possibly impress her. This reminded him the despicably casual attitude of this so-called Sorcerer Supreme and irritated him even more.

"I want more details." He ordered, with a cold and fierce voice "What is this place?"

She smiled. She even seemed genuinely happy to speak to him. And, by Hell, so was he, but she must never know it.

"I cannot give you many details about it. I do not know much about this area. I have not even found a proper name yet. What you see of me now is just a projection of my mind. My body is still on Midgard, as you call it."

"So, Midgard has its own mages now, but with as little knowledge as possible of what surrounds them." He concluded.

The woman shrugged.

"I do not know what you refer to as a mage. But I agree with you, I still have a lot to learn about this place. I would like to know your name, please."

He decided to sit as well. Talking with his head down was becoming uncomfortable. Of course, why not having a sort of friendly chat with some eerie woman in an inter-dimensional trap? It all made perfect sense.

"My name is Loki of Asgard, God of Mischief. You may have heard about me." He added, with an ironical grin.

His interlocutor paused for a moment. She was not shell-shocked, as he assumed she would have been, but was visibly recalling something.

"Indeed. I was sure to have seen you before, but I did not remember when and where. You destroyed half of New York with a reptile-like alien army a few years ago, didn't you?"

She might as well have asked him what the weather was like. Loki fought against his growing desire to punch her in the face out of frustration.

"I meant no offense." She added, as if she had guessed his intention "It was just that I briefly heard it on the news and that was the end of it. The people of Earth acted as if New York was its one and true symbol, which it clearly isn't. However, I must say that I am not a great fan of you killing hundreds of people. Do you have some other world domination plan up your sleeve?"

"The Earth does not interest me anymore." Said Loki "And I did not end up here because I wanted to. I am looking for a way out and you will help me."

"How could I?" Answered the Midgardian "Your situation is strongly different from mine. As I said, I can access this place while my body is still on Earth. On the other hand, you seem to be trapped here, body _and_ soul. I am only a visitor without any power. I cannot open dimensional portals or anything of the kind."

Loki clenched his fists. Apparently, she was sincere. At first, he was so relieved to meet another living being in this desert area that he had suddenly thought everything was going to be solved. How stupid of him… But that did not mean giving up. He had to learn more about her.

"If you call yourself a visitor without any power, why do you come here then?" He inquired.

"Because I like it. Such a neutral and quiet atmosphere is difficult to find on Earth."

The Asgardian burst into a cynical laughter.

"A neutral and quiet atmosphere… Indeed, our situation is strongly different. I suppose that having to stay here forever with no way out would make you reconsider your appreciation!"

Loki was starting to despise her. What did she want to prove, with this disinterested and standoffish attitude? She was ignorant and pretentious. Quite simply, she only deserved his contempt.

"I agree." She said "And I see that you do not like me, which makes us even. It is a shame since you probably are the single inhabitant of this entire dimension."

Now she was the one with a cold smile on the face. Loki immediately felt an irrepressible wave of panic across his mind. She was right, after all. He would better not discard the only potential help he had.

"Have you heard of the Tesseract?" He asked.

He instantly saw a light of renewed interest in her eyes and felt truly relieved.

"Is it a device?"

"Indeed. A very powerful one. It allows its wielder to open portals and wormholes in and between dimensions."

The woman remained silent for a moment, thinking about what he just explained.

"Hm. If this Tesseract is the only thing that allows to go in and out of this place, I do not know how you could escape it. For now. You must be a very powerful being if whoever-its-wielder-is chose to imprison you here."

Loki restrained a smile.

"There is a reason why I am called a God."

She did not answer right away. Loki could almost see her thoughts moving in her mind. She was clever, undeniably. This was the reason why he decided not to mention Thanos. He could not trust her.

"I cannot guarantee anything." She started "But I know how to take advantage of the very few things I learnt about this place. I will help you."

Loki was perplexed. All along their conversation, she had never shown any sign of sympathy towards him and now she declared to help him? This did not make any sense.

"You seem overwhelmed with gratitude." She sarcastically noted.

"I certainly am suspicious. You do not seem to have any particular interest in aiding me, and yet you vow to do so."

"Well, indeed I am not the charitable type of person. I am not vowing anything. But that does not mean I am cruel either. If it reassures you, I have two specific reasons to help you. First, no matter what I do, each time I will want to come back to this place, you will be there, so gone will be its neutral and quiet atmosphere…"

She was really starting to enjoy herself now, and Loki did not like it. At all.

"Second, when I first accessed it, I was not immediately able to go back to Earth. So, I have more or less been in the same situation. It would be quite hypocritical from me not to advise you, wouldn't it?"

"Absolutely."

Loki could not resist. Although he did not appreciate this strange Midgardian, he was glad to have someone to talk to. And fortunately, that someone was not as dumb as most of the humans he had met before. Yet, being completely dependent of someone else was beyond irritating. Most of all he knew that, sooner or later, she would have to return to her physical body, leaving him alone again in this white void. But he would rather spend all his life here than ask her to stay a little longer.

"Who are you?" He abruptly asked "What kind of powers do you possess?"

She stared at him. In her brown eyes were shining some thin reflects of gold.

"I already told you. My body is not different from the one of any other human on Earth, but my mind is not limited to the physical world. It is a state everyone can potentially attain with intense practice, but very few are aware of it. One man is especially known for his abilities. His name is Doctor Strange."

She stopped when she saw Loki smiling. And then, for the first time since their encounter, she looked surprised.

"You are a good liar." Said the Asgardian "Trying to derive my interest on someone potentially more powerful than you, good idea. You _are_ different from other humans. So, I ask you again: what powers do you possess?"

The amazed look on the woman's face disappear. Her eyes were now shimmering with amusement.

"You are one difficult to confuse, God of Mischief!" She acknowledged "I will certainly not get bored with you. I guess if you really want to know… Prepare to wait, because I will not tell you. At least, not now."

At this moment, she sounded like a child taunting his younger sibling to catch up his favourite toy. Was it the same person who travelled between dimensions looking for peace and tranquillity?

"Watch your tone." Threatened Loki "You could regret it."

"I could very much indeed." She assumed "You are dangerous. Perhaps I should leave you here, where you will not bother anyone, and find myself another neutral and quiet atmosphere."

Her arrogance was getting so much on his nerves that, before he even considered his gesture, Loki grabbed her neck to raise her above him.

In fact, Loki would have grabbed her neck to raise her above him. But his hand only met emptiness. She had not lied about this. He was only seeing a projection, without any physical support. He definitely should not underestimate her. But his anger had gotten the upper hand, he was defeated, imprisoned, ridiculed…

And yet, the scornful remark he expected never came. She had not moved and was curiously fixing his hand, still traversing her throat.

"I did not mean to laugh at you." She said "Even though, you must admit, you do not make things easy. It is not my fault if you ended up here at the first place."

At least, she had the decency of not asking again why he had been imprisoned here, Loki thought. He slowly lowered his arm. What was the point of that, anyway? What would he have done if he had been able to hurt her?

"I have to go, now." She immediately added "I will come back."

She looked away from him.

Now was the moment he expected.

Loki waited for her to make the first move. He did not know if it was going to work, but he had to try. Even a non-physical entity could serve as a channel for his magic. It all happened in a second. She disappeared. And Loki's spell followed her, grabbed her, found the way out. All happened so fast that he did not have the time to see her reaction. He did not feel sorry for her. He did not have to be. The only thought that crossed his mind was that he still did not know her name.

And Loki opened his eyes.

* * *

A wooden ceiling.

Unbearable heat.

Those were the two things that struck him as soon as Loki opened his eyes. He was lying on his back, inside a house made of wood, where it was unbearably hot. So far, nothing truly abnormal. Maybe he could move now.

He slowly rose up and looked around him. The place was small but overflowed with stuff. Daylight entered by two windows on his left. The equipment was the strict minimum: a corner kitchen with a table and two chairs, shelves fixed on the wall where a dozen of large boxes were carefully organized, a small coffee table with books piled up on it, and an uncomfortable couch, on which he was currently sitting. Loki staggered a little when he stood on his feet. Something was not right. He felt extremely ill-at-ease, and he knew that it was not because of the heat. A quick glance at his hands confirmed his suspicion.

They were not his.

The God of Mischief took a deeper look at his arms, his legs, his chest.

He was _her_.

Well, more exactly, in her. He was trapped inside the Midgardian's body. Was his voice even still his?

"How ironical." He said out loud, immediately realizing that he had spoken with the human's voice as well.

Then, Loki thought, from one prison to another. How ironical, indeed. What had happened to his body? Was it now inhabited by the woman's soul?

Loki felt a fit of rage burning in his chest. For a few seconds, when he woke up, he had thought that the nightmare was over, and that wherever he was on Earth, he was going to find his way out. How stupid he was…

He took a few nervous steps inside the cabin. The air was incredibly dry. Looking around for water, his eyes caught a strange detail on the shelves in front of him.

There where something moving in each box. He came closer, intrigued.

Oh, better and better. Snakes. A Midgardian woman with mysterious psychic powers and eleven boxes containing snakes, what else could he expect?

Loki was found of snakes. He had even turned into one a couple of times, including a trick he played against his older brother when he was a child. Good old days. But why was the woman collecting them? Most of them were sleeping peacefully, enjoying the sun rays. Only one appeared tensed, as he was nervously moving. Out of curiosity, Loki took the large box off the shelf and put it on the table. Its sides were translucent, blurring the figure of the snake. Loki carefully took off the lid to have a more precise image.

He literally heard the fangs chatter close to his ear, only avoiding the bite due to a prodigious reflex. He dropped the box, from which the little brown snake had sprung up like a devil, and took a few steps backwards. The reptile was contracted into an 'S' shape, mouth gaping open and ready to strike again.

"Stop!" Ordered Loki.

The snake did not react to his command. The god immediately felt a gaping fear within his veins. He could not use his powers. Worst, he realized that he did not even feel his magic. It was not like in the white void, where he was still in possession of his abilities but had no mean to use them whatsoever. Which meant…

Which meant that he was completely human. Defenceless. Mortal.

And that a single bite of this creature could possibly kill him.

When the snake made a sudden move towards him, Loki caught the kitchen knife he had spot on the counter and threw it right to his neck, nailing the animal to the floor.

His breadth was jolting. Loki stood in the middle of the cabin, incapable of looking away from the twitching little body.

How stupid he was…

He slowly passed his hands on his face. Only then did he notice that they were shaking. So that was how it felt, to be human. Being so weak that even something as tiny as a snake could end his life.

His throat was dry. Yes, he recalled, humans could not survive long without water either. He opened the closets surrounding him, and finally fell on a water bottle, inside a tiny white cupboard. He drank avidly. The water was blissfully cold and it felt like the best thing that happened to him since he was trapped by Thanos.

Once the bottle was empty, he decided to take a closer look at the body he inhabited. The door on his right gave way to a small room containing a shower and a sink, with a mirror on top of it. He had given little attention to the Midgardian's physical appearance during their conversation. The clothes she had put on were light and very simple, and she (he?) was bare-foot. Her body was rather muscular, for a woman, and well-tanned by the sun. Her face was harmonious. Had Loki not been in such a desperate situation, he could have found some charm in the Midgardian's figure.

Being in a woman's body was not completely new to him, as he had already changed his appearance, but he had never experienced the body of another. Feeling deprived of his powers terrified him. He could not stay like this. He had to find a way to be truly himself again.

His thoughts were so conflicted that he did not manage to establish a proper plan. He searched the house for any kind of clue that might indicate his position.

Australia, he recalled, that was the name she had pronounced when he asked where she was coming from. What was it? A city, a region, a country? Then, Loki found a paper pinned to the wooden wall next to the entrance door. On it was hand-written a list of meaningless words.

 _OKA mail truck, Oodnadatta: Wednesday 11 AM, Friday 10 AM._

The only thing he understood was "truck". What did OKA mean? What was Oodnadatta? And what was a mail?

Loki angrily punched the wall and felt a wave of pain in his hand. Of course. Fragile humans…

What should he do, now? Where should he start? And why, by Hell, had he rush to steal this human's body without knowing anything about her?

Loki felt a paper under his foot, which must have fallen when he hastily grabbed the kitchen knife. He picked it up. The hand-writing was strongly different from the one pinned to the wall, much harder to read.

 _Hi Elisa,_

 _Hope you're okay. Guess you must be in Witjira by now. Just wanted to thank you for last time. Don't hesitate to pass by when you'll come back. Door always open!_

 _Take care,_

 _Archie._

At last, he knew. Elisa. Loki wondered if it made a difference for him, to know the human's name. Probably not, he tried to convince himself. And yet, he could not help fighting a small accusing voice in his head. Had he killed her? Had he condemned himself by the same occasion? Judging by the tone of this letter, this Archie was not her lover but maybe one of her friends. Although Loki had the appearance and the voice of Elisa, it would not be difficult for someone who knew her a little to notice a difference. Without any physical or magical power, and almost zero knowledge of his situation, he was done for.

Loki pulled himself together. He would not give up so easily. This trap was far less terrifying than the one he just escaped from. He resolved to take at least a look outside.

When he opened the door, he was physically struck but the heat. His feet were aching, his head was spinning and the sun was so bright that he could not see anything for several seconds. He took a few uneasy steps and contemplated the landscape surrounding him. Sand, trees, bushes and rocks. No sign of any other human presence. If the main intention of Elisa was to be forgotten, then she doubtlessly succeeded.

A strange melody pulled him out of his reflexion. He came back inside the house and realized that the music was coming from a small rectangular device that humans called a phone. They managed to do an incredible number of things with that. The screen indicated "Archie T.".

Great, Loki thought. What should he do now? But the music stopped, and, although Loki had not touched the phone, a man's voice began to speak.

"Elisa, this is Archie. I'm sorry but this is really urgent now, I need you right away…"

Loki did not hear the rest of the sentence, because in the blink of an eye, he was surrounded by whiteness and silence.

* * *

Loki the God of Mischief. He had a suitable name. Even though she knew that she would return to her body, the humiliation of having been so bluntly outrun was stuck in her throat. At least, she could take a look at her new frame.

He (she?) looked like a normal man, but only from the outside. She felt… Incredibly powerful. The god's physical force must be at least ten times bigger than a human's. His clothes were strange too, made of a more resistant kind of fabric. Did she also have his voice?

"I did not see that coming." She said, and she chuckled at Loki's deep and cold tone.

What was he up to with her body? She could not help but worry a little. If he had so easily found a way to get his soul out, maybe he could actually take his body back to Earth, or wherever the Hell he came from. But that also meant taking her back, so no matter what he did, she would be here. And it would not be easy to get rid of her.

Despite being anxious, she was not angry at him. Being trapped in Whatever-its-name was unpleasant, to say the least. No wonder why he had so suddenly tried to run from it. Although he did not look like the type of person to punch his way out, she understood how fed up he was with this place. Additionally, their first meeting had not been so friendly. She had always been accused of being arrogant, but now she had found a sizeable challenger.

"So, this is how it feels like, being a god." She solemnly declared.

There was something else. A non-physical force that she could not reach. Something dormant, which could be as destructive as creative. Not only did he have super human strength, he also had immense powers. She tried to recall the fragments of news she heard after Loki's attempt at invading Earth with the help of the Chitauris (was it the right name?) but everything had been focused on the powerful Avengers. As if no one thought useful to describe their adversary, since he was already defeated. This was one of the main reasons why wars would forever be waged, Avengers or not. Consequently, she knew almost nothing about what Loki was capable of. The good thing was, neither did he about her. He did not seem to be even aware of her existence (why would he?), and his disdainful attitude because of her human condition gave her a clear advantage.

Alright, she had to go now. Loki was certainly going to suffer even more when he would be back but she did not care that much.

And she opened her eyes.

* * *

Suggested end song: _Trust_ , Jeanne Added.


	4. Think of it like a child's play

It was not possible. He was back. No, it was not possible. It could not be possible.

Loki immediately realized that he was back in his body. He looked around him. Everything was white.

I could not be possible.

Everything happened so fast. Was it the Midgardian woman who had done it? It could not be true…

 _Perhaps I should leave you here, where you will not bother anyone, and find myself another neutral and quiet atmosphere._

The words were repeating over and over in his head. Was it the end, then? A terrible thought instantly struck him. He could not actually die. His body was not affected by pain, nor thirst or even tiredness. His physical form would remain intact while his mind would slowly fade.

"I refuse this." Loki said out loud.

He had to admit it, he was afraid and powerless. But that did not mean he should embrace despair. After all, he had already been beaten, tossed to the ground, imprisoned and mocked countless times. And he always rose up, laughing at the face of those who felt so superior to him. He would come through this, as he had always done.

 _Trust my rage_ , he once said to his brother. Yes. Rage strengthened him.

Elisa. The ignorant, arrogant, and yet dangerous human. Loki cursed his own stupidity. He had underestimated her powers. He should have waited. He should have learnt more about her. Rushing like he did was unusual of him. This was the risk of being driven by his rage. He had to find a way to follow the path she took to enter this place.

Loki focused on his recent memory, trying to ignore the oppressive whiteness that seemed to pursue him even when he closed his eyes. He needed to analyse the way the human's mental projection had left this place. However, no matter how hard he tried, he did not manage to find the way out on his own. Loki had used his magic as a hook to catch her and take her place. Which meant that he needed a base. He could not go anywhere alone.

"I know you are here. Show yourself!" He ordered.

Nothing came, of course. Even if she was really still here, why would she join him? He had just tried to switch place with her. Certainly, she would never take the risk to come back… No, he knew she would, sooner or later, because she was curious. She would not resist.

But meanwhile, what was he going to do? He did not know anything about this place. Only that it was white, silent and infinite.

* * *

"Elisa, this is Archie. I'm sorry but this is really urgent now, I need you right away…"

Her head was spinning a little. She laid her back against the wooden wall. Side-effects passed quickly but they were always as annoying. Her eyes surveyed the inside of the cabin. So far, nothing had moved. Except this knife on the floor, with…

"Elisa, you' okay?!" Added Archie.

"Yes Archie, I am okay. Are you? What happened?"

"I'm fine, but Nathan got bitten. He's with me, I'm bringing him to you right now."

"Bitten by what? When will you get here?" She said, immediately reaching for the first aid kit next to the entrance door.

"Death adder and forty minutes. He seems to be… Wait, he wanna talk to you."

She heard a little rustle and a distant motor noise when Archie handed the phone.

"Hey Elisa, whassup?" Articulated a third voice.

"Hi Nathan. I won't say I told you to keep antivenom but I really want to. You seem pretty relaxed for someone who tickled a death adder."

"At least I got… some nice shots."

"You surely are crazy. Where did you got bitten?"

"Left… leg."

His slow speech was one of the venom effects. She was not too worried about it. Forty minutes was an incredibly short period of time in Australia, and with Archie's driving, it would surely take less. A rescue helicopter would probably have taken the same amount of time, maybe more. Besides, death adder antivenom worked extremely well and rapidly. And Nathan was a sturdy man. Crazy, no doubt, but sturdy.

"Well, I have everything ready with me. See you soon."

Nathan hung up. She sighed heavily. Some days definitely started worse than others. Her gaze stopped on the dead reptile still nailed to the floor. Perhaps now she could release tension.

"FUCKER!" She screamed.

Despising her? Alright, she did not care much. Stealing her body? It was doomed to failure, anyway. But killing her snake? What was he thinking?

She furiously took up the knife, grabbed the lifeless body and put it in the fridge. Then she installed a drip set next to the couch, put the first aid kit on the table and set on to dilute the antivenom ampoule with saline. But all her thoughts were focused on the god of Mischief. Was it reasonable to come back to Whatever-its-name now?

Of course, she already knew what she was going to do. She had never talked to someone like him. He knew things she only dreamt of learning. She had to take the chance to discover more about him.

About twenty-five minutes later, she heard the screech of tyres on the ground and rushed to help Archie with Nathan, who could barely walk and yet was smiling at her.

"That crazy mate clearly wanna die." Said Archie, while he lied him down on the couch.

Archie was a tall man, half-Scottish and half-Arrernte, one of the major Aborigines tribes in South Australia, which gave way to the extraordinary combination of brown skin and ginger hair. As a touristic guide in the outback, he spoke four languages fluently, with his own definition of fluency. Nathan, now sleeping on the couch, was English. The two men had met two months ago in a bar in Adelaide, had first gotten into a fight about who was making the best whisky or who had won the last football match, she did not remember exactly, and had obviously become best buddies the morning after. Nathan was a wildlife photographer. A reckless one.

"Sorry Elisa, I tried to bring it to you but that little fella was too quick." He chuckled.

"Some men bring me flowers, others offer me snakes. Death adders are not that aggressive, what happened, did you dance on it?" She questioned, while giving him the anti-venom intravenously.

"Whaduyuwanmetosay?" He muttered.

"Can I at least see the pictures?"

"Yep."

She went to Archie's pickup to take the camera, undoubtedly Nathan's most precious possession. He was a talented photographer, she reckoned. He had been living here for six weeks and this was the second time he got bitten by a snake, the first one being on his very first day. Far from discouraging him, this had only motivated him more for his reporting on South Australian wildlife. He was staying at Archie's place for the moment but he would have to move soon and the Scot-Arrernte was persuaded that he would kick the bucket in the process. On the contrary, she was convinced that Nathan would die a centenarian.

She was taking a long look at the photos, in the shade of the pickup, when she heard Archie screaming.

"Shit, I almost had an attack! Why's there a brown snake in your fuckin' fridge?!"

"Help yourself if you want." She sighed. She should have put it into a Tupperware.

"I think I'll pass. Tuna pasta?"

"Except if you have learnt to cook something else."

Archie was now busy in her kitchen. She came back inside. It was merely nine in the morning and the atmosphere was scorching hot. Oodnadatta held the world record of the highest temperature on Earth. People could fry eggs directly on rocks.

"You got off the wrong foot today?" Asked Archie when she entered.

"As you can see, one of my companions was not very cooperative."

"I guess so. You're even crazier that the dude on your couch. Makes me nervous to know there's an inland taipan in one of those boxes."

"As long as you do not provoke them, there is nothing to fear, you know."

"I know… I really owe you one for this time in the museum."

"No, you do not. Maddy paid me for that, remember?" She distractively answered, busy checking Nathan's pulse, then taking a close look at each box.

Fortunately, all the others were fine. She kept wondering why Loki had stabbed the snake. As a matter of fact, why did he stay in the house? He knew few places on Earth but nothing here could be helpful to him. With such power as what she felt, he should have found a way to get out of this deserted place in an instant. He surely was weaker in a human body. She was even more and more certain that he did not have access to his powers at all…

"Pasta?" Proposed Archie, suddenly pulling her out of her reflexion.

"At nine AM?"

"Not yet forbidden by the law."

Archie always cooked something when he was invited over, whether she liked it or not. And the only thing he could cook was tuna pasta.

"Don't you have some tourists today?" She asked.

"We open at half past ten. I've still got some time."

"If you say so."

Some time. How strange time was. It did not matter if she took some time or not to come back to Whatever-its-name.

"Archie, could I use your internet at the museum?"

They had a slow, lagging internet, but it was enough for her to do some research about the battle of New-York, which took place more than five years ago.

* * *

Right after Archie drove Nathan and her at his workplace, the Oodnadatta Railway Museum, she overviewed all kinds of articles, footages and testimonies about the Avengers teaming up, the issue of Chitauris weapons on the black market, and the brief and disastrous path of Loki. She methodically noted every single piece of information that seemed valuable (there was an unbelievable quantity of hoaxes, including Loki being a reptilian or a CIA agent). A short video taken by a mobile phone in some German city caught her attention. The Asgardian was wearing a horned helmet and held a shining sceptre. But what surprised her the most was the look in his eyes. He was visibly wacky. The sound of the video was poor but she clearly heard him screaming "Kneel!" like a madman. The interesting thing was how the mob had been gathered. From what she saw, Loki had gotten out of a building and slowly walked towards a square, disintegrating a police car in the process. And yet, people seemed to be afraid of something invisible that apparently circled the place. Then video stopped when Loki took a very recognizable shield in the chest. How could heroes make their appearance so right on time?

Even inside the museum, it was outrageously hot. She briefly laid down on her chair and took a look at what she had gattered so far.

 _So-called God of Mischief. Race of extra-terrestrial beings from planet Asgard (more details). Brother of Thor, God of Thunder (Avenger). Super-human strength and resistance, Eldritch rays, knowledge of outer space, some kind of illusions. Apparently psychotic. Huge wormhole above New-York. Ask about Tesseract._

Even though the Earth had had its share of catastrophe across the last previous years, she had to admit Loki had set high standards. Now, she literally had a list of questions to ask him. It was not apprehension she was feeling when she thought about their next encounter. It was thrill. She had much to learn about him. Not about destroying the world, oh no, that did not interest her.

 _The Earth does not interest me anymore._

He had not lied either. Yet, she had to remain cautious. Inquiring, maybe, but cautious. Anyway, was there something else she was supposed to do? If she were a hero (which she wasn't, clearly not), would she have left him alone to atone for his sins? How did they call that, the "right thing to do"?

"Bullshit." She muttered.

"Excuse-me, Elisa?" Said a woman's voice "I lend you my computer and you thank me by cursing in my back?"

"Sorry Maddy, it was not about you. I guess I will take my leave." She smiled, and quickly closed all the internet windows before standing up.

"Yeah, bye."

It was always funny to see how Maddy hated her. But she was a real angel compared to the god she was going to visit.

* * *

Loki was. That was all. He existed, nothing more. The sensorial deprivation was total. No sound, no taste, no smell, not the slightest variation of light. He could not _do_ anything, and soon he could very well not _be_ anything. He had been here too long, diving further and further in his memory, the only safe place where he could escape, but not for ever.

He had many things to think about but few were reassuring. His brother, lost, his father, gone, his mother, gone, his powers, useless.

"Always so perceptive, about everything but yourself."

Frigga was standing next to him, with a sad smile on her face.

"You should not stay here." Loki sighed.

"I am free to go where I want, my son. I am dead."

"You _are_ dead. Be silent." Loki harshly said.

More and more visions. Noises. Hallucinations. Loki felt that his head was about to explode. Every emotion and memory were fuzzy, joy and pain seemed to be the same. Where was he? How did he get here?

He was Loki, he thought. He had to remember this, no matter what. He was Loki of Asgard, the God of…

"Brother." Thor said "Look around you! Do you think this madness will end with your rule?!"

He looked around. Fire and destruction. Where was that, already? How did it happen? He had a feeling that he should care, but he did not manage to do so.

"Where ever you go, there is more ruin." Odin accused.

Why was he in chains, now? It did not matter, he did not care.

"Stop!" He shouted.

Only silence. Destructive silence. Deafening silence. Oh, his head was hurting so much… He was Loki, he remembered. Loki, that was all. A name, he had to hold onto his name. Without his name, he would truly be gone.

He had the feeling that he could not clearly see. White all around. Even more overwhelming than dark. Sometimes, he could not help but looking at his hands just to be sure that his body had not disappeared.

What was this place? It was a prison, he recalled. Someone had sent him there. Someone that terrified him. He had seen someone else, long ago. He remembered the heat, a snake, a melody. Was it real or part of his hallucinations as well?

Odin, the All-Father. Thor, the God of Thunder. Frigga, the All-Mother. Names echoing in his mind. Voices, faces, emotions. Resentment, affection, sorrow. Were those real or part of a never-ending dream?

Loki was shaken by a nervous laugh. He did not know what was and what was not. There was just nothing. Nothing and him.

"I told you I would come back. You really should listen to me." She said.

The woman was next to him. She did not exist.

"Go away." He muttered "You are not real. You are not real."

Loki had no anger left in him. He was becoming increasingly mad. This illusion seemed so real that he did not know if it was created by his own mind or by Thanos himself, in order to torment him. This would indeed be the most refined cruelty. Distress followed by treacherous hope ended up on true despair. The perfect way to break anyone.

He saw her moving towards him. Avoiding her was impossible. He had no place to run. He could not fight.

"I am real." She said.

"No! Go away!" He shouted.

Loki frenetically compressed his head, half-laughing, half-crying.

"Get out! Get out of my head!"

He fell on his knees. Resisting this torture was more of an instinct than a strategy. There was no possible escape.

The illusion stopped moving. Loki was glad. He did not raise his head towards her. If this was the supreme mark of insanity displayed by his own mind, let if at least be silent.

"Have you ever had chocolate eclairs?" Abruptly asked the woman.

Loki froze. Had he heard correctly?

"What?" He could not help answering.

"It is a pastry. In a saucepan, you bring milk with a vanilla bean to a boil over medium heat. Then, you immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse for roughly fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, you can whisk egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy, and then add…"

"What are you saying?" Articulated Loki.

"You are right, let's talk about something else. Literature. Jack London was born in 1876, and died in 1916 or 1917, I cannot remember. He worked in Klondike for a while, and when he returned he published novels, including _The Call of the Wild_ , _White Fang_ and _Martin Eden_."

"This is nonsense."

"Sure, it is. And yet, so lively. Like the Bee Gees."

"The what?"

"Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother

You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'

And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive!"

She was singing. Badly, but she was definitely singing. She was even starting to dance.

"Enough! Why are you doing that?!" He screamed, jumping on his feet.

She halted.

"Do you believe me, now?"

"I don't understand." Loki confessed.

"You thought I was an illusion created by yourself or some mad extra-terrestrial entity. Nor you nor he would bother to learn about human culture. Do you really think that an illusion could be so accurate about things you are not even aware of?"

Loki stayed still for a moment. He was incredulous. She sounded so crazy that she might be right. Slowly but surely, he began to remember who she was, Elisa, and what she did here, if she was actually doing anything.

"I think that this is the most insane reasoning that I have ever heard." He finally said.

"Precisely!" She answered "Nothing here is supposed to make sense!"

"I already realized it." Loki sighed.

"You realized it but you did not accept it." Elisa underlined.

Loki wondered if it was possible to get even more confused.

"I do not know what you intend to prove. Besides, why do you still want to help me?"

She crossed her arms.

"If this is what you insinuate, I am indeed quite angry at you. Not because you tried to steal my body, honestly, I would have done the same thing if I were you. I am angry at you because you killed my eastern brown snake."

Well, he did not expect that. Loki did not have the time to answer, as she explained further.

"This was the last snake I captured. I found him nailed to the floor with my kitchen knife, and I did not even have the time to collect some venom. I drove me mad for a while."

"I… am sorry to have… killed your snake." Loki stammered, as sincere as he could be at the moment.

"Anyway, no need to expand on this. And never try to possess my body again. Even if you did, it wouldn't be very productive, would it?"

"True." Finally answered Loki "But you know very well that I cannot trust you so easily."

"I know. I do not trust you either. You have nothing to lose, and I will not risk anything for you. I am not helping you out of pity, rather out of curiosity. Take it the way you want."

Elisa sat down and the god imitated her. He was torn between shame and relief. On the one hand, he would have to live with the memory of breaking down in tears in front of a Midgardian woman -even though she was not like all the Midgardians, but still- and on the other hand, he was glad to know that he had not turned mad.

"One step at the time." She said "If I was able to get you out, I would do it right away. It will be hard, of that I am sure. However, I can explain how to control this place. At least, to a certain extent."

Loki was paying close attention.

"Between the moment where you came back into your body and the one I joined you again, I suppose it felt like weeks, or even months, have passed. On Earth, it lasted barely a day. Time does not exist here, you already noticed that. But there is a way to, let's say, confuse this dimension."

"You are talking about this place as if it had its own conscience."

"Perhaps it is the case. As you have pointed out, my knowledge is very limited. The key is to choose an objective."

"An objective?"

"When I found myself trapped here, I firstly resisted. I fought again the rules of this place. There are very few but it is impossible to confront them head-on. It is indeed very much like a conscious being. The more I was thinking that I would not spend the rest of my days here, the more the whiteness and silence felt oppressive to me."

Loki did not add anything. All of this was painfully true.

"Think of it like a child's play. Imagine that you are constantly losing against our older sibling, who is physically stronger than you, no matter how hard you try. He will always win if you play by the rules. And yes, I am making this comparison on purpose." She added, when she saw the upset look on Loki's face "After your attempt at invading Earth and the Thunder God joining the Avengers, your brotherly rivalry appeared a little obvious."

The Asgardian resolved to save for later the dozens of sharp remarks he had thought about.

"This place is imposing several things to you: you are alone, you cannot get out. The point is to state "I am alone, but…" and "I cannot get out, but…" because what makes this dimension's strength are its weaknesses."

"It definitely sounds like a child's play." Loki remarked.

"I was baffled when I realized that. It seems incredibly stupid. But, at the risk of sounding philosophical, few things in the world are complicated when you take a closer look at them. Earlier, when you were persuaded that I was an illusion, it was useless to say "I am not", since it only comforted you in this belief."

"So, you drove my attention away." Loki continued.

"I turned the Yes/No opposition into a What-the-Hell/How-on-Earth one. By the way, you really have to try some eclairs when you get out. Not everything on Earth is as despicable as you think."

"Can you stop digressing?"

"And, there's the rub." Elisa smiled "I should never stop digressing. Words are power, but one second of inattention is enough for you to get trapped by your previous statements."

Loki rolled his eyes. Arrogant woman.

"I am not exaggerating. You cannot deform the rules once or twice and then hope to win the standard way. You need to do it constantly."

"I see your point." Loki assured "When you were in my body, how did you get out?"

"My phone-ring. It acts like, let's say, a reminder from my physical body that I should join him. Archie's call was purely accidental, but I had set up an alarm within the next five minutes. I told you this was stupid."

"Not more than your strange dance earlier."

"You have a point, do not count on me to do this again. Since time does not exist here, eternity can as well be billions of years or the blink of an eye. So, this is where I would stop as far as I am concerned. Your situation is more difficult than mine."

"As I have not set any "reminder" or whatsoever anywhere else." Completed Loki.

"And since I have not experimented this myself, I might get much more unclear. But, as you did with your magic when you wanted to switch place with me, you can use me as your reminder."

"How so?" Loki caustically asked "The result is not very conclusive."

"As I said, I cannot get you out for now. But I can help you not waiting for what you feel like months or even years on your own. It reminds me of lucid dreams. Your dream still has rules, but you bend them at your will. Except that now, you must literally trick a dimension. And I feel like you might be the perfect person to do so."

Loki smiled. Oh, how right she was.

God of Mischief. Trickster.

* * *

 _ **Suggested end song**_ **: Cuphead - Die House**

 **Okay, I will go easy on the PTSD shit in the next chapters. I kind of want to credit Guardians of the Galaxy for the way she breaks the tension but she is not as fan of music as Star-Lord, so there won't be that many pop music references.**

 **Honestly, it's no big deal for me if no one wants to leave a review, but it can be helpful if you think that the story is too slow/complicated/dickishly annoying. Anyway, I enjoy writing it so the following chapters will come very soon!**

 **And thank you very much, AnadoraBlack, FanGirlForever19, Iris Maya, Venny5123 and knightowls2 for following my story!**

 **La bise!**


	5. What is your name?

"To be honest, I have… Quite an insane amount of questions to ask you." The Midgardian woman declared.

"That makes two of us." Loki admitted "Speaking of questions, you still have not answered mine: what kind of powers you possess, Lady Elisa, to get in and out of this place as you wish?"

This was a simple deal of information. Nothing more. He might as well be polite, even with a human. Moreover, he was not so secretly enjoying her reluctance to answer him.

"There are two reasons why I will not tell you here and now." She finally declared "The first is, obviously, that I cannot fully trust you yet. Second, and this is the most important, I am still suspicious about a possible conscience in this dimension. Maybe it is not the case. I currently have no way to find out. But Whatever-its-name is so singular that I prefer not to reveal too much about my abilities."

"Do you really think that whatsoever omniscient power who wants to discover who you are would only be blocked by your words?" Loki taunted.

"No. Like I said, I cannot possibly know. But I tend to think that words are power. Words make us. And I do not want this dimension to make me."

Loki felt both irritation and interest. He gathered the elements he already knew about her. He had few. For now. Sooner or later, all the puzzle pieces would come together. And "not here and now" did not mean "never". She had definitely said that on purpose. There was something else she had just mentioned…

"What do you mean by "Whatever-its-name"? Do not tell me that you literally have identified this place that way?"

"Well… Do you have a better idea?"

She had a sorry-not-sorry smile. Her range of facial expressions seemed endless, Loki briefly thought.

"It actually fits." Said the god of Mischief, not in the mood to baptise a dimension.

"Can you talk to snakes?" She suddenly asked, and Loki assumed that he would have to get used to this way of constant digression.

"Yes. I thought I could, while I was still in your body. Turned out I was not. Why do you capture them, by the way?"

"I am a herpetologist. I look for rare and potentially dangerous snakes, in order to index the endangered species and to extract their venom, which serves as the basis for antivenom, and potentially other types of medicine."

"No wonder why you chose to live in such a hot and isolated place."

"Australia holds many records in terms of jeopardy and remoteness. It is an extremely vast country but only a tiny percentage of the world's population lives there. If you had chosen to invade the West Coast of Australia instead of New York, the impact would clearly not have been the same."

"Trying to lecture me about it will not change anything." Loki coldly answered.

"Sorry, I was just illustrating my statement. Could you explain to me what Asgard is?"

Her question caught Loki off-guard. Images flashed into his mind, the battle against Hela, the Goddess of Death, and the complete annihilation of his home world. Although he did not have a lot of good memories of this place, he could not deny that such a sudden destruction had not been easy to witness. Furthermore, the end of Asgard was directly linked to the coming of Thanos. He had exterminated what remained of his world. Loki clenched his fist. What had become of Thor? His brother was pretty much the only person he had left.

"Asgard is no more." He bitterly said "It was the place where I came from, but the Ragnarok destroyed everything."

"Oh. I guess I should say sorry."

"Say what you want."

She had not been sarcastic, Loki could tell. This just did not impact her. Of course, how could it? And he was definitely not angry at her for that. In fact, he was sort of glad. She did not seem to feel pity towards him, not even after having seen him on the verge of despair. This woman truly came out of pure curiosity. And so was he towards her, which made them sort of equals. Good.

"And tell me, Lady Elisa, where do _you_ come from?"

She smiled again, as if she had not been asked this question for ages.

"I come from a country called France. Nice place. Far less dangerous than Australia. It is right in front of New York, if you draw a line crossing the Atlantic Ocean."

"You have travelled a lot during your life." Loki deduced.

"Indeed. But I guess that it is not even comparable to your peregrinations across the universe."

"It depends on what you call travels, to the places you see or to the ones you actually land on."

The woman reflected on his answer. She seemed to be aware that this was one among many sensitive subjects. Loki remembered his endless roaming across the universe, after his fall from the Bifrost, and how he had fallen in the hands of Thanos. Definitely not a pleasant journey, to say the least.

"Speaking of travels," He suddenly added "Explain me further how to control this… Whatever-its-name, and actually this is a very good appellation."

The Midgardian was briefly surprised by his request but appeared ready to do so.

"Very well. Call me back and I will come back."

And she immediately vanished.

Alright. Loki certainly did not expect it to be so quick. He urged himself to repress an irresistible wave of panic. It was almost instinctive. He had spent so much time here that finding himself alone again would surely drive him crazy. How strange it was, that this woman chose to come back to a place where she had apparently suffered as well…

Or maybe not so strange. She wanted to bend her fear. And this was precisely what Loki would do. He would play with his prison, until it let him out all by itself without even realizing it. The Asgardian smirked. He was really starting to consider Whatever-its-name like a sentient being.

Nevertheless, he could not help feeling resentment towards the Midgardian. How did she find the strength to get out of here, without any help? The more he knew about her, the more he wanted to learn.

He had almost lost himself. At some point, he could barely remember who he was. When she came back, all his memories had suddenly reappeared, had sprung up like a torrent in his mind. And yet, he felt like he still had many to retrieve. He wanted to get out of here, he was sick and tired of a place where he could not do anything. He wanted to use his magic again, to go wherever he desired.

But in order to do all of that, he had to see her.

"Very well, Lady Elisa." He said.

"Hello again." Said a voice behind him almost immediately "So, how was it?"

"You have literally been absent for five seconds." Observed the god "Do not tell me that five months have passed on Earth?"

"No. Barely five days."

* * *

 _Call me back and I will come back._

It always took her some time to readjust to her body. Fortunately, the heat was much more bearable now. It was sunset. She gently rubbed her temples and took long, deep breadths.

Well, that was not so bad. They had settled something like an alliance, or a collaboration, she could not yet define the nature of their relation. But he did not have aggressive intentions towards her anymore, that was the main point.

She rose up from the couch and reached out for the water bottle on the table. Her gaze surveyed the book on top of the pile.

 _The Call of the Wild_. She almost knew it by heart. And, for God of Mischief's sake, she really had danced.

Not as if she was ashamed. It had been fun, in a way. Captivating, most of all. And yet, even though she was not comfortable with this feeling, she could not help but being relieved for him.

He was panicked. Lost. Alone.

She had been here before. It was a terrible sensation. Countless times she had called for death, countless times she had thought that insanity had finally came.

There was a part of her that hated to see this happen to someone else. It was simply too much. It was not pity. It was stronger. Something like instinct.

She put the book on the table. A break would be welcome. Venturing too much on a short time in Whatever-its-name was not good for her. Loki was a very powerful being, he would quickly learn how to control it.

Some little noises came to her ear and she immediately walked to the fridge.

"Don't worry, dinner is coming." She chuckled.

Six of her snakes had to be fed, and some of them were quite impatient. She rummaged in the fridge and seized a container of defrost mice and frogs. Although these were wild snakes, feeding them living preys was not a good idea, as there was still a risk that they might be hurt. She delicately put the first box on the floor and took off the lid.

"Hey, mate."

Mulga snake. The longest one she had, the calmest too. He had got used to her presence impressively fast. Extremely venomous, and extremely beautiful. His shining, olive-green body was lazily intertwined. He took his time to swallow his diner. Then, she gently grabbed his body and put him on the floor, keeping an eye on him while she was methodically cleaning its box. The Mulga slowly stretched, enjoying the last sunrays that came through the window.

She repeated the same work with all her snakes, even those whom she did not have to feed, in contemplation for the days to come.

Hunting days. Always the most exciting ones. Early in the morning, she would take a tent, some dried meat, empty boxes for newcomers, maybe Jack London, then drive further into the Australian Outback.

* * *

"So far, it was pretty productive. Captured many snakes, kept three of them, including a desert death adder."

"Dangerous?"

"Very. And shy, which makes her difficult to locate."

Loki could not help but being amused. She really _was_ found of snake, contrary to most of the humans.

"How do you capture them?" He asked.

He was genuinely interested. Not as if this explanation was going to solve his problem of being stuck in Whatever-its-name, but he had always been used not to even consider the threat of a snakebite, as it would not harm him at all. Needless to say, finding himself in a fragile human body had been a disagreeable experience. Plus, the Midgardian seemed delighted to answer that question.

"The most important is to identify them. It took me time to be able to make a difference between some species. Catching them is not really complicated. I use a long metal hook to lift their body. Then, I transfer them from a bag to their box, and I extract some venom if needed. This is also a tricky part."

The Asgardian could very easily imagine the woman with a snake curled around her arm. Quite a hypnotizing picture. Something to do with her eyes, surely. From time to time, he would swear that the iris colour had changed, from light brown to gold, or even that the pupil had widened or reduced. This was beyond irritating.

"Let's come back to the main subject." He decided "You suggested that I use you as a reminder to change the rules of this place."

"It seemed to work well."

"And we can establish any kind of code, from saying your name to this phone ring you used."

Loki was maybe still imprisoned, but this was an enormous progress. The next step was to find how he could interact between Whatever-its-name and Midgard. There was also one last thing he had to make clear.

"One element is missing." He assured.

She did not answer anything, only raising her eyebrows a little to show her perplexity. The god smirked.

"I must say, you are like this desert death adder. Difficult to locate."

"You forgot the dangerous part." She warned.

"I am just bringing back your own statement. Words are power, as you said earlier. Words make us. And you do not want anyone to know what makes you."

She did not flinch. Loki had to admit, human or not, she was resistant.

"You certainly are not Elisa. What is your name?"

"Is this a question or an order?" She enquired.

Loki paused. He was used to command and control. However, he knew that it was not possible here. Especially with this woman.

"I do not _need_ to know your name. I am simply curious." He admitted.

She nodded, as if she already knew his answer.

"Well, indeed fake identities are useless here. My name is Isabella."

"No, it is not." Loki smiled.

"It is not. My actual name is Joan." She sighed.

"Not bad, but not true either."

He was enjoying himself so bad. How satisfying, to see her arrogant attitude flinch!

"Right. But Thelma is true."

"You really do like names with an "a" in it?"

"Yes, I have always wanted one since my real name is Ellen."

"Come on, you can do better."

"Catherine?"

"I like this one, though."

"I really don't know if I hate you or admire you right now." She finally said.

"Were you really hoping to fool the God of Mischief?" Loki taunted.

"To be honest, yes I was."

She seemed amused and destabilized at the same time. Her eyes really were shining, Loki noted. Their colour seemed to change, again. _What_ was she?

"I am Morgan, of Earth. Nice to meet you, Loki of Asgard."

* * *

 **So, who guessed it? I was very careful not to mention her name when the story is told from her point of view (notice that only Archie, Nathan, Maddy and Loki, at first, call her Elisa). What do you think about this development? Has it raised more questions?**

 **No end song today, but the best cut scene ever from** _ **Thor: Ragnarok**_ **: Soup Store (On Youtube. It's emotional).**

 **Thank you again for your review, AnadoraBlack and Nayruh! This makes me want to clarify what the story is about;**

 **Yeah, A LOT of discussions and reflexions in the first part. It's not the kind of adventure we would see with Marvel heroes, but it's still part of a journey. In** _ **Thor: Ragnarok**_ **, Thor found himself powerless without his hammer, and at the end gained even stronger powers without it. So, what if Loki comes through a similar experience?**

 **Oh, and what about Morgan, would you ask? (this is her real name by the way, I am not going to trick you twice) Well, there is a Marvel super-villain named Morgan in the comics, but mine has very little to do with her. Like I said, I focus on the movies. I am anglicizing her name, as Morgan can be used for boys and girls, but in France it is spelled "Morgane" and is only for girls. This has zero impact on the story, it's just in case you want to know. By the way, don't hesitate to tell me if I do recurring mistakes in English.**

 **La bise!**


	6. Starts with a dog and ends with a wolf

"I presume the identities you have listed are not the only ones you took. But I am afraid to have a much greater knowledge in terms of… Illusions."

Loki had to admit, teasing her was childish but felt good. It had actually been a while since he really felt good. When was the last time he did? His memory was still fuzzy. He just knew that it had something to do with his brother.

To sum it up, the Midgardian's name was Morgan. It suited her. Not unpleasant to hear. She was apparently as lost in her thoughts as he was.

"It was indeed useless to continue being Elisa with you." She finally said "I suppose it was the force of habit, but it does not matter here. Whatever-its-name cares little about names."

"Are you afraid of something, Lady Morgan? What are you exactly trying to hide?"

"I already told you, I will not talk about my abilities."

"What happened to, what is it already, the Yes/No opposition that can trap you?" Loki taunted.

Contrary to what he expected, she suddenly seemed to come back to her usual calm attitude.

"Not talking about them does not mean that I cannot show them to you."

Oh, this arrogant human was good. No sooner had he had the upper hand than she piqued his curiosity even more.

"About that." She added "About names and illusions, I still have questions for you."

"To which I can totally not answer if I do not want to."

"I will ask them anyway. First off, are all Asgardians able to do… What you can do? When I was in your body, I felt this incredible amount of power, which I cannot name nor explain, and could not reach either. What is this?"

Loki smiled. Now it was his turn to spark more interest, without revealing too much.

"No, definitely not. I am, to put it nicely, considered peculiar among my people. My magic can influence many aspects of reality. However, as you noticed, I cannot reach it. It need a base, just like you need a reminder to get in and out of here."

"I see. What I also have to know is the way this Tesseract work. You said it was used to generate wormholes. Was it what opened the portal for the Chitauris above New-York?"

"Indeed. The Tesseract is a unique creation. I was able to use its power to arrive on Earth on my own, but I needed a consequent source of energy in order to open a much larger portal, hence its installation on the Stark Tower."

"So, if I understand correctly, you have been both the wielder and the victim of this device. One thing is certain, it seems pretty impossible for any of us to retrieve the Tesseract right now."

Loki's breadth suddenly stopped. A thought had struck him like thunder. By Hell, why was his memory so foggy?

"Thanos is coming to Earth." He declared.

"Oh. I need development now." Morgan calmly answered, although she had clearly not expected that.

Loki was divided between the need to explain and an irrepressible urge to laugh. Staying silent about Thanos did not make much sense now, and although most of the humans would have said "Oh my god!" or simply "who?" after he spoke, this one stayed unbelievably still. He definitely could not keep on calling her "the human". Maybe "the Morgan" would be more accurate. But no need to tell her. She was already arrogant enough.

"Thanos is the one who sent me there. Well, I suppose. He actually strangled me beforehand. But his ultimate goal is to gather six powerful artefacts known as the Infinity Stones, in order to be the supreme master of all life in the Universe. He currently has two of them, the Power Stone, and the Space Stone, the Tesseract. And from what I have heard, two other stones are kept on Midgard."

"Indeed, that is a problem. Does he intend to annihilate all life on Earth once he has them all?"

"No. Only half of it."

"At least, that gives full meaning to seeing the glass half full of half empty, when it comes to the state of the world." Morgan sighed.

The Midgardian started to walk nervously.

"It does not look right, considering the timeline…" She started "You said that after your planet was destroyed, you encountered Thanos, who presumably sent you here. He took the Tesseract, or the Space Stone, whatever, which means that he can arrive on Earth in the blink of an eye. And yet, it has been days. Even in the middle of nowhere, I can regularly check the news. I saw no trace of world destruction so far."

"So, Thanos is not here." Loki completed "And he clearly had no reason to take his time."

"Or maybe he got lost on his way?" Morgan suggested.

The Asgardian gave her an incredulous look.

"Yeah, very unlikely." She shrugged.

Loki sighed. Everything was becoming increasingly confusing. As if it was not enough already.

"I am in two different places at two different times. Better and better." He bitterly concluded.

"I am sorry." Morgan started.

"Sorry for what?"

"For being about to make things even more complicated."

"Go ahead, I do not see how worse it could be." Loki sarcastically said.

"Whatever-its-name is… _Really_ peculiar. There is no time, and there is no space either. It is Space without Time and Time without Space. As crazy as it may sound, I think that you are the same Loki that is going to be sent here in the near future. This place is not in the universe we know. It stands aside from it. Or above. Or under."

"Whatever."

"Exactly."

Loki truly did not know how to feel. Frustrated? Relieved? Tired? Nervous? He was all of this, to a certain extent.

But perhaps? Perhaps this was actually an opportunity to change things?

"Not a chance…" Morgan muttered.

"Did I speak out loud?" Loki angrily asked.

"No, but you had this sudden hopeful look. I do not think it to be possible, neither a good idea, to change the future. Essentially, because I do not know who to warn. The Avengers are no more. Half of them have been declared outlaws."

Interesting, Loki thought.

"Even though your brother Thor has been spotted taking holidays in Australia a couple of years ago, he has left the Earth now and no one knows where he is. I am the only living being that is aware of Thanos' existence, and I do not think anyone is going to take it seriously."

"Most of all, you do not look forward to explaining who you are to whatever is left of Midgard's protectors, don't you?" Loki grinned.

"True as well. Especially to a certain Doctor Strange…" Morgan reluctantly admitted.

"The one with a red cape, living in New York?"

"Oh. You two know each other?"

"Not yet, in fact."

The Midgardian suddenly seemed exhausted. So was Loki. He was fed up of all these emotional surges, all these hopes and deceptions. He had thought that it was possible to _make things right_ , for once. By Hell, what did that even mean?

And even if he did, even if he managed to warn Thor, prevent Ragnarok, counter Thanos, what would actually become of him? Would the Loki locked up in Whatever-its-name cease to exist?

"I really need a break." Morgan suddenly said.

Loki did not answer. She was going to leave. He clenched his fist. How bad he wanted to get out!

But Morgan did not disappear. She just sat down, closed her eyes and set on to breath slower. The god of Mischief took a longer look at her, since he had nothing else to do.

The reason why Loki had never truly paid attention to the woman's physical appearance before was that he was always focused on her inconstant eyes, which sometimes frustrated him more than anything else. He had to acknowledge that the rest of her face was not unattractive. Her dark, curly hair were cut just above the neck (the Asgardian actually had longer hair), which enhanced her suntanned complexion. Loki also noticed that her nose was slightly turned-up, not in an excessive way but just enough to give her a kind of childish look.

The Midgardian seemed to gradually relax. Loki wished he could do the same. He often practised meditation as well, but he could not bring himself to do it here. It was like accepting to be completely defenceless. And Whatever-its-name was everything but a safe, reassuring place.

* * *

The silence was becoming uncomfortable, at least to Loki's opinion. There were so many things he did not want to evoke, for a variety of reasons, that he could not bring himself to emit a single word. Still, he did not want to remain quiet either. Whiteness and silence. Too oppressive.

The god barely contained a sarcastic laugh. How pitiful he was, to be so easily anxious!

"What are you thinking about?" Morgan abruptly asked.

"Nothing of your concern." Loki coldly answered.

"Can I at least ask you a very little and unimportant question?" She carried on, not discouraged yet.

"Alright, go ahead." He sighed.

"Thanks. Have you read a lot of books in your life?"

Loki was actually hoping for a question of that kind. Books, here was the ideal subject. Nothing terrifying at stake, only endless knowledge and curiosity.

"Certainly. The Great Library of Asgard is one of the most marvellous places that I know of. Not only is it an architectural masterpiece but it contains every kind of book you can possibly desire."

Some memories were coming back. Peaceful ones, for a change. His feverish days spent looking for an ancient, long forgotten book upon which he could not wait to cast his eyes. His sleepless nights trying to repeat a spell until it gave the expected result. His mother Frigga showing him the place for the first time. Even his brother Thor coming once in a while, because he knew that he would surely find him there.

"Centuries would not be enough to read all the volumes stored there. Some were so ancient that I had to re-write and restore them almost entirely." He pursued "Adding a few ameliorations from time to time."

Morgan looked amazed. She kept asking for more details, more anecdotes about the Library, and Loki was pleased to answer all of them. He described its corridors and its immense shelves, how he lost himself once trying to find an atlas, and even how he turned into a cat to reach an essay stuck in an unreachable hatch.

He told her about how he learnt magic, a very tedious, complicated process to initiate. Frigga helped him practising but she had very quickly warned that she could not present him with all the theatrical knowledge he needed. He had to look for it on his own. At the sight of the immeasurable work awaiting him, he could not deny that he had firstly felt anxious. Then, little by little, he searched, explored, discovered and improved. His progresses seemed futile in the beginning, which sometimes drove Thor to mock his wish to keep on learning, but when he began to master spells, his power grew exponentially. At this moment, he had truly felt like nothing could ever stop him.

Suddenly, Loki felt a wave of pain in his chest. Everything he was evoking had come to a brutal end. Nothing remained of the Great Library. His mother was dead. He did not know where his brother was. And all he could do was to stay in a white emptiness, waiting. Just waiting.

Waiting for what, exactly? He did not know how to get out of here. Neither he nor the Midgardian woman had the slightest plan about it.

No, he should not plunge back into despair. This was the expected thing to do when sadness took over. But he was the Trickster. He had to do the unexpected. So, what was unexpected to do when he felt powerless and alone?

"Your turn now, Lady Morgan. I recall you mentioned one of your favourite authors."

"Jack London. There are very few books I always carry with me but _The Call of the Wild_ is one of them."

Loki's enquiring look invited her to continue.

"It is a novel, starting with a dog and ending with a wolf. It is about savagery in its whole, be it animal or human."

"I thought you would have preferred a snake." Loki teased.

"There are not many stories about snakes, unfortunately."

Both of them stayed silent for a moment. Loki had easily guessed that her statement was not exclusively describing the animal in itself. People were terrified by wolves but also charmed by them, because they were fierce but beautiful, in a way. On the other hand, snakes were not. They did not fight, they killed. They were too treacherous, too unpredictable. Dangerous. Different.

"Would you like me to tell it to you?" Morgan suggested.

Why not, after all, Loki thought. He really needed a break as well.

* * *

 **Suggested end song:** _ **If I had a gun**_ **, Noel Gallagher.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! A review is always welcome, if you have time!**

 **Petite remarque pour mes lecteurs français, puisque je remarque qu'il y a pas mal de Français qui me lisent, si jamais vous cherchez une histoire qui parle d'animaux pas forcément aimables et de climats pas forcément agréables, entre autres, allez voir** _ **La Neige du Grand Nord**_ **de Nayruh. Pour qu'un auteur en vienne à faire de la pub pour d'autres histoires que la sienne, c'est que celle-ci est de qualité !**


	7. Wait and see

It was a good story. About primitivity, violence, pride, knowledge and perseverance. And Morgan was a good teller. She steadily described the settings and the characters, adding an original quote from time to time.

"There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise." She recited "And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive."

She almost knows the entire book by heart, Loki thought.

He did not interrupt her once, fully enjoying the opportunity to put his mind at rest. He had nothing to focus on, except the adventures of Buck (what a strange name for… the dog, the wolf, he could not really say for now) across the frozen wilderness. To Hell with Thanos and the Infinity Stones. A part of him even suggested to close his eyes and lay down but Loki told it to shut up, as if he was going to act like a child going to bed in front of a human.

But he listened until the end. Morgan seemed equally pleased to talk about books and stories.

"Jack London was a very prolific author. _The Road_ and _The Sea-Wolf_ definitely worth the try as well."

Loki briefly thought about the adventure stories told on Asgard. Almost all of them were about the journey of a hero against much more imposing creatures than those in _The Call of the Wild_. Immense snakes circling the world, dragons breathing fire or even…

Or even ruthless giants made of ice.

Loki clenched his fist. Yes, each story had its monster.

"By the way, I was thinking about something you mentioned earlier…" Morgan started.

"Which is?"

"The fact that you can speak to snakes, or turn into a cat… You are a shapeshifter, right?"

"So, what?"

"So, first, this is amazing…"

"Second?" Loki angrily asked, urging her to get to the point.

"Second, what kind of base do you actually need in order to do so?"

As soon as she saw Loki's look, Morgan seemed to regret her words. He was furious.

"And who do you think you are, to ask me such idiotic question?!" The Asgardian snapped.

"Hum, sorry, but I do not know much about your magic, so…"

"Clearly!" Loki shouted "Don't you think I have tried? Don't you think I have attempted _everything_ in my power to get out of here?"

"I was only trying to understand how…"

"You cannot understand! Magic is something Midgardians are unable to wield; how could you even conceive it?! You act as if you possessed ultimate knowledge about everything. Your ignorance is flagrant. And your arrogance is childish."

For the first time, Loki saw anger on the woman's face. At last, he had managed to disturb her placid attitude!

"You are right." She fiercely said "I am an ignorant and arrogant human, I have already heard that many times before. And you know what? You are a powerless god, who has been strangled and trapped here instead of dying."

"Be happy with that non-physical form of yours, otherwise you would regret your words!"

"By the way, say my name when you want me back." Morgan reluctantly added.

"I want you OUT!" Loki yelled.

"Gladly."

And she disappeared. Loki's chest was burning with rage. He wished he could destroy something.

* * *

Headache. Great.

Morgan furiously rose from the couch, ignoring her staggering legs, and directly drank the water bottle on the kitchen counter. She had stayed too long in Whatever-its-name.

 _Just like the first time._

She slowly squeezed the empty bottle in her hand. Not good. Definitely. Not. Good.

Anxiety grew in her chest. Loki's arrival had disturbed everything, in a good way _and_ in a bad way. Impressive, how fast they went from a presentation of the Asgardian Library and Jack London's famous work to shouting at each other like teenagers.

Morgan slouched on a chair. That man, well, that god, was a mess of emotions. Fortunately, he was not the same as the one who attempted to take over the world years ago. He could still be a threat to her, though.

 _I must say, you are like this desert death adder. Difficult to locate._

She was. If hiding was a sport, she would probably be a world-class champion.

Morgan. It had been a while since she last _heard_ her real name. She was not even attached to it. But she would not give it away. Hide it, very well, but never forget it. Without her name, she would be truly lost.

And yet, how easily had Loki seen through her mask. As he said, he had his own ways of hiding the truth. The question was, which truth?

As soon as she felt less dizzy, Morgan stood up and reached for one of the boxes on the shelf. She carefully opened the lid.

"Apparently, you and I have a lot in common."

Death adders were not actual adders. At first glance, they looked similar, with their short, thick bodies, their triangular head and tapering tail, but they belonged to the cobra family, along with the most famous king cobra, taipan and black mamba.

From what Morgan had seen, this one was an old female. She extended her hand and the reptile's bifid tongue brushed her skin. Morgan slowly lifted it out of its box, then took a few steps outside the house. She crossed her legs on the sand and the adder idly curled on her knees.

Morgan chuckled. If Archie saw her, petting one of the most venomous snakes in Australia like a domestic cat, he would either quit Scottish whisky or beg her to do it again in front of a tourists group at the Oodnadatta museum. He had already caught a glimpse of her "gift" with snakes when she captured a king brown (or eastern brown snake, the same kind Loki had nailed to her floor) which also had the idea of visiting the museum, scaring the hell out of the visitors.

Several people had indeed noticed her troubling talent with animals, and not only reptiles. With humans as well. Which was one the main reason why she never was Morgan.

It was almost ten in the evening. She came back from her excursion in the outback shortly after noon and had dedicated the rest of the day to extracting venom from her three newcomers. Too bad she did not find another king brown.

The last rays of the sun coloured the sky with red and orange tones. Soon, light would come from myriads of stars. Morgan remained perfectly still, enjoying the smell of the nearby mimosa. A few feet away, some red Sturt Desert Peas looked like ambers scattered in the sand. Around them shone what had been raging fire in the past, tiny meteorites debris named tektites. Most of them landed there some five thousand years ago. Of spherical, oval or teardrop form, they were called "staring eyes" by the Aborigines and used as magic tools.

Morgan's growling stomach interrupted her contemplation. One of the (many) downsides, when she came back from Whatever-its-name, was that she could literally forget to eat. Always waking up thirsty, but never hungry. She headed back to the cabin, fed the death adder a mouse and set on to prepare her own dinner. As soon as she seized the frying pan, she took a small electric shock on her right hand.

"Ah! Come on!" She cursed.

Statistical electricity was to her the annoying person that pretends to be your friend and is impossible to get rid of. Even in the middle of Australia, where nylon sweaters were not needed, it seemed to stick with her. She was currently chatting with an Asgardian god nowhere and nowhen, but avoiding electron volts, that she could still not do.

Her thoughts came back to Loki. Everything she was doing right now, looking at the stars, tasting the food, getting electrified, was impossible to him. Sensorial deprivation slowly but surely took its toll on a person's mind. She remembered too well the isolation, and everything that followed. Sometimes with no warning, she would wake up in a state of sheer panic, not knowing if she was really here or still over there, lost in a never-ending dream.

Maybe she would tell him how she got out.

Or maybe she would never do so.

Wait and see.

* * *

Loki was wondering if the ground could be smashed.

There was no "ground" _per se_ , but the fact was that he could stand and walk on something. There was air as well, otherwise he would not have been able to breath or to hear his own voice.

But that was about it, really. The surrounding white was not even a colour; it was more of a denial of any concept of colour.

Left with the air and the ground, then. Therefore, he wondered if the latter could be smashed.

He tried. Nothing. No sound, no movement, not even pain in his hand.

"Curse you." Loki muttered.

He knew that talking to a kind of floor in a kind of extra-dimensional space was maybe not the sanest thing ever but that made him feel somehow better.

At first, he had been infuriated against the Midgardian woman. Yet, strangely enough, his anger had quickly decreased. As a matter of fact, she did not ask those stupid questions because she was mocking his powers. She asked those stupid questions because she was interested in his powers. Loki was not used to that, having spent all his life in a world where using own's brain rather than sword, or axe (or whatever massive weapon compensating whatever part of the body) in front of danger was always suspicious.

Morgan had a kind of childish arrogance, when it came to new concepts, but she wished to learn. And maybe, just maybe, he might have overreacted a little. Just a little.

However, without even knowing it, she had put the finger on a key point. Technically, he _could_ shapeshift, but here, it just would not work. Furthermore…

Furthermore, it had been a while. A real, huge while. Loki sighed loudly. He wondered if aging was possible in Whatever-its-name. Probably not.

 _Think of it like a child's play._

Her words were echoing in his head.

Plays had no meaning. They were just plays, that was all. If he still had his magic but could not use it to _leave_ this place, that did not mean that he could not use it to _stay_. This had zero logic. This made no sense.

 _Because a trickster should not make sense._

The god of Mischief focused on the power running through his veins. And he remembered the feeling he had when he had mastered his first spells, pride and confidence, when a perfectly resembling illusion of himself stared at him.

This was a good start.

* * *

It did not always work, of course. Controlling his thoughts about Whatever-its-name proved to be incredibly difficult. As soon as Loki tried a different spell, he could not help but thinking about how he would use it somewhere else. The key was to banish the "use it" part, in order to remain as self-contradictory as possible.

Here lied the difference between Morgan and Loki. The Midgardian had a foot on Earth and another here. On the contrary, Loki could not interact with any other space or time. For his powers to work, he must both accept it and go against it.

Needless to say, this was not an easy task. Maybe he could take another break, listen to another of Jack London's stories and enjoy scaring the Hell out of her by suddenly showing his magical skills. Should he try to turn into a wolf, by the way? He would consider the option…

"Then, come back, Lady Morgan."

Loki waited. No response. Maybe just her name? He grinned his teeth. It was so ridiculous!

After all, nothing was supposed to be ridiculous here, so whatever.

He called again. Still no response. Apprehension crept down his back. Was she so resentful that she refused to come back?

Wait a minute…

 _If she dared to do that, I swear I will kill her._

"My name." Loki distinctly spokes.

"Sorry, I could not resist." Morgan said, with an absolutely not sorry smile.

* * *

 **More nonsensical storytelling and trick-playing in the chapters to come!**

 **And I hope I am doing alright with the descriptions of Australian desert.**

 **Thank you again for your reviews, Nayruh and AnadoraBlack!**


	8. Everybody needs snakes and lies

"You know, revenge is a dish best served cold."

"I said I was sorry."

"You only said it."

Fortunately, Loki was as angry as Morgan was sorry. If she wanted games of wits, she would not be disappointed. Furthermore, she did not seem to hold any grudge against him.

"How much time has passed on Earth since you last came?" The Asgardian inquired.

"A week. Still no end of the world at sight."

"I have literally warned you about half of humanity's disappearance. I thought your reaction would have been more…"

"Hysterical?"

"That was not the word I was looking for but, at least, that you would have had some kind of reaction." Loki admitted.

"Well, in my situation, there is pretty much nothing I can do to prevent Thanos' arrival. By the way, I should have asked this sooner but _why_ does he want to do that?"

Loki sighed. Thanos and world destruction was not the matter he wanted to talk about at first.

"He believes that overpopulation is the greatest threat of all, and that killing half of it will save the other half."

Morgan remained completely inexpressive for a few seconds, processing the information. Then, she did the most implausible thing ever, for someone who had just heard about humanity's doom; she burst of laughing.

She might be a little insane, Loki thought.

"This is… the most… inefficient way… to save the Earth!" She articulated, still shaken by laughter.

"I agree, but I do not find it especially funny."

"I find it hilarious. Erasing half of the population is making sure it will grow more exponentially than ever." Morgan asserted.

"And what makes you say so?" Loki asked.

That childish arrogance, again. She was so _sure_ about things, even those she did not _know_.

"I would say, History and Biology." Morgan answered.

"You mean, human instinct to reproduce?" Loki smirked.

"What do you imply, that does not exist on Asgard?"

"Has it crossed your mind that, without a planet, it might not be the main preoccupation at the moment?" The god snapped.

"True… On Earth, there had been countless catastrophes, the Great Plague, the Vesuvius eruption, First and Second World Wars, in short, every possible kind of disease, natural disaster and genocide. We can very well exterminate half of humanity on our own, no need for extra-terrestrial assistance."

"I saw that. You cannot help but destroying your own planet."

"Human lives are short, so their perspectives are short as well. And, slowly but surely, the bigger the cataclysm, the faster demography augmented thereafter. Thanos will not save humanity. And the remaining half will be traumatized. Nice perspective." Morgan said placidly.

She did not seem amused anymore. How strangely she perceived her own kind, Loki thought. Maybe this could be an opportunity to know more about her…

Or maybe not. _Not yet_. There was a dim, fragile trust between them, and it was too early to risk it. He had to be patient. _Both of them_ had to be patient. After all, Loki was as evasive as Morgan when it came to answering personal questions.

"Tell me about the Avengers. If I recall correctly, you said that half of them had become outlaws?"

"Yes, and it has almost been two years now. Long story."

* * *

She began at the beginning. First, there was this huge battle between Thor and Dark Elves at Greenwich, which Loki was already aware of. Then, an impressive mess between the so-called SHIELD and HYDRA organisations. Things became even more complicated when she evoked a sentient Artificial Intelligence created by Tony Stark (of course) that ransacked a European country. Understandably, governments around the world grew fed up with this, and forced the Avengers to be placed under their permanent control. Some did not agree and figured out that fighting each other in an airport was a good way to solve this problem.

Turned out it was not.

What was currently called "Avengers" did not include Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and some others Loki did not know beforehand. All were on the run. Meanwhile, new heroes had appeared, such as Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Both of them were based in New York City (apparently, Morgan had not lied about this city being considered as the symbol of the entire planet).

Loki was impressed, but not surprised. In front of a common enemy, heroes would always unite. And grow stronger. This conclusion had become crystal clear after the Hulk mistook him for a hammer on the floor of the Stark Tower. However, peace ultimately led to boredom. And they had no other face to punch than their own, to alleviate the tension.

"To conclude, being mainly focused on arresting the former Avengers, not a single one of the Earth's security agencies would take the Thanos threat seriously." Morgan asserted.

"Most probably." Loki agreed.

And even if they did, what would become of him? He had no guarantee that Morgan would keep his presence a secret, even if he was not technically present on Midgard.

"By the way, what does Thanos look like?" Morgan questioned.

Loki smiled wryly. He focused on the image he knew too well.

"That." He simply said, extending his arm to his right.

Morgan turned her head towards a three metres-high purple alien.

" _Putain de merde_!" She screamed, leaping on her feet.

Loki rose his eyebrows. By the sound of the words, he could tell that she had just exclaimed "fucking shit" in another language. The God of Mischief erased the illusion, manifestly proud of himself.

"Sorry. Going French when panicking." Morgan explained "What happened to the impossibility to use your powers?"

"As you said, I am the perfect person to trick this dimension." Loki grinned.

"Was _that_ really necessary, though?"

"Absolutely not."

Morgan looked like she was truly happy with that non-physical form of hers.

"Talking about powers, I have found a story about a snake, if that interests you." She suggested.

Had she guessed Loki's intention? The Asgardian had wondered if she would take the bait, requesting to know more about his powers, on the condition that she would tell him about hers. He smiled. She was clever.

"That interests me." He admitted, which was true by the way.

"Perfect. It is part of the Dreamtime, which is the basis of Aboriginal spiritual beliefs. It is the story of the great Rainbow Serpent…"

* * *

Long ago, humans are alone. There are no animals or birds, no trees or bushes, no hills or mountains. Then comes the Rainbow Serpent. He has many names; Wagyl, Ngalyod, Borlung, Yurlunggur, Goorialla… So, he travels across Australia to find his tribe. On his way, he carves mountains and gorges, creeks and rivers. Then, he meets some men and teaches them how to sing and dance. He represents rain and healing, but he is unpredictable, and can also bring anger and death.

One day, during a heavy storm, two young brothers go to the Serpent to ask for shelter. He tells them he has no room, but they insist. He says "All right" and swallows them. But the next day, the boys' friends notice their disappearance and begin to go after him. When they find the Serpent, they cut his stomach and free the boys, who have actually turned to birds. Of course, the Serpent is not very pleased with having his stomach cut and starts throwing pieces of mountain at the humans. Trying to escape, they gradually turn to trees and animals.

Eventually, the Serpent gets tired of this and dives into the sea. Or flies into the sky and becomes the Milky Way. There are countless other legends about how he shaped the land.

"Do people still believe in them?" Loki asked.

"Some Aborigines firmly believe in the Rainbow Serpent. Some say that it is just stories."

"Lies." Loki corrected.

"Stories, lies… Not so different. You know, the worldwide medical symbol is a serpent-entwined rod. Everybody needs snakes and lies."

"Are you trying to insinuate something?" The Asgardian inquired.

"Perhaps trying to make humans less contemptible." Morgan admitted.

Now Loki looked confused.

"You did not seem to have a lot of empathy towards Midgard earlier. Have you suddenly changed your mind?"

"Not at all. Humans have awesome but also terrible ideas. You cannot have one without the other, and that is why Thanos is a fool if he thinks he will save the Earth."

"Maybe so." Loki sighed "In the meantime, I still do not know if I can consider myself saved or not."

"You will get out." Morgan suddenly assured.

"How can you be so sure about that?" The Asgardian sharply replied.

"Well, I remember you telling me that you could notuse your powers. You did. At first, you thought that I was not real. I am. Statistically, I think you have very high chances of success."

"That is the worst attempt at making me feel better that I have ever heard." Loki sneered.

"As you can see, I am still an amateur when it comes to talking about Whatever-its-name." Morgan conceded.

"You still are an amateur when it comes to talking." Loki retorqued, with a smug face.

"Alas, I am shocked that you say so!" Morgan theatrically answered "Hence your great suffering when you listened to my tales!"

"Words are much more than tales." The god smiled "The human who invented it doesn't want it. The human who bought it doesn't need it. The human who needs it doesn't know it."

Morgan stayed still, caught unawares by Loki's riddle. She remained silent, calmly looking for the answer, although she had to admit that the mocking green gaze in front of her was not boosting her concentration. She settled more comfortably, which was useless since she was a projection. Force of habit, she supposed.

"A tombstone… Or rather a coffin." She finally said, smiling triumphantly when Loki acquiesced.

From what Morgan saw, he was becoming more and more talented at not making sense. And he was definitely enjoying it.

"You said "the human" when you talked about crafting coffins. You do not bury your dead in Asgard?"

"We burn them." He simply answered.

There was a brief reflection of sadness in his eyes. It disappeared as quickly as it arrived.

Another sensitive subject, Morgan thought. Soon she would have to write them down not to lose track. But no way he could come back to insulting her for any far-fetched reason. She began to whistle.

"I can sizzle like bacon,

I am made with an egg,

I have plenty of backbone,

But lack a good leg,

I peel layers like onions,

But still remain whole,

I can be long,

Like a flagpole,

Yet fit in a hole."

"Not as few stories about snakes as you said, apparently." Loki acknowledged, after a moment of silence.

* * *

It became a sort of habit.

They could talk about crucial or pointless matters. They could tell stories or riddles. And, overall, they could endlessly speak or say nothing at all. Silence was much less oppressive when it could potentially be broken at any moment.

Morgan told him about Midgardian literature. She loved to read, and Loki quickly saw that she could not help but being envious of his ability to communicate in every existing language. She also told him about Midgard in itself, which was far bigger than Asgard. The amount of countries and cultures was astonishing. No wonder why they were so constantly waging wars at each other. It was already difficult for a bunch of heroes to get along, so for millions of humans…

Loki told her about the Nine Realms, how they were connected and how they interacted. He evoked the diversity of planets and races that existed within and beyond the Galaxy. Even living hundreds of years like he did, it was impossible to visit them all.

"How old are you, by the way?"

Despite tackling so many subjects, they almost never asked personal questions. Alright, maybe once in a while.

"A little more than a thousand human years." He casually answered.

"I would have said between thirty-three or thirty-five years, well, the err is human."

When she was not here, Loki trained. He mainly worked on creating illusions and shapeshifting. But, most importantly, he worked on clearing his mind. This was the key to everything. And this was damn hard in Whatever-its-name.

Once, Morgan appeared when Loki was trying to meditate, to his greatest confusion. He had not said her name. Actually, he had just briefly thought about her, nothing more. But he did not order her to get out. She did not speak a word. She sat down, not too close to him but not too far either, and that was it. They stayed like this for a long time, not saying anything.

And when she opened her eyes, she saw an eastern brown snake.

Loki counted five different swear words (people really were inventive when it came to insults, in this country called France) before coming back to his normal form.

"Great. Amazing. Praise you. I will have my revenge as well, you know." She said nervously.

"Why so? I thought you liked snakes." Loki innocently teased.

"Indeed. Snakes. Not alien shapeshifters who love to make terrible pranks."

"If you consider _this_ terrible, trust me, you don't want to know Asgardian standards."

"No, I don't. But honestly, _this_ was also incredibly impressive." She smiled.

"Thank you."

"You are welcome."

And she left.

Loki felt a little strange. He had never thanked a Midgardian before.

And he had not even been sarcastic.

Ouch. Better think about a really terrible prank next time.

* * *

Suggested end song: _The Passenger_ , Iggy Pop


	9. Who can say what trust is?

"I see that you have some upcoming dates." Loki observed.

He had always seen the Midgardian wearing simple clothes. This time, Morgan displayed a light red dress, scattered with little orange flowers. It was a close-fitting robe, embellishing her silhouette without revealing it bluntly. She had painted her face too. Her sometimes-brown-sometimes-golden eyes were underlined by some dark make-up, and her mouth was as red as her dress. She looked like… Well, she looked like a Lady. There was nothing particularly fancy about her outfit, after all Loki had seen quantities of more refined apparels in the Court of Asgard, but she clearly knew how to showcase her charm.

"I actually just came back from the date in question. Which was clearly not one, by the way. Just a very important ritual called an Aussie Barbie."

"A ritual?" Loki enquired.

"Slang for Australian barbecue. It consists of bringing people together in order to eat freshly grilled beef, lamb or kangaroo, preferably with a decent amount of fresh beer, and laugh about how absurd the world is."

"What could be more absurd than this _barbecue_?" The god said, almost forcing out the word.

"Whatever-its-name."

They stayed silent for a moment. Then, her smile widened, making her cheeks blush even more. Loki wondered if she was a little tipsy, if a projection could actually be tipsy, but he could never really be sure of anything with this strange Midgardian. Anyway, he had to ask.

"I would like to try something, if you allow me to." Loki politely requested.

"This is new. What does it consist of?" She replied, instantly coming back to her serious and prudent attitude.

Loki did not expect less from her. She always seemed a little nervous when he displayed his magical abilities, which was not completely illogical.

"An illusion. Of different nature than the ones you previously saw."

"How could I forget…" Morgan muttered.

"I want to take the voice and appearance of someone else, this time. However, I have no way to find out if it completely worked. I just need an external look."

He saw the usual light of curiosity gleaming more than ever in the woman's eyes. Damn eyes. At least they were steadily brown at the moment.

"Interesting. And I presume that I know extremely well the someone else you want to imitate."

"Indeed." Loki smiled shrewdly.

Then, he closed his eyes. He took his time to clear his mind, then focusing on each detail, each physical characteristic which needed to be changed. He waved his voice and appearance in his mind, then wrapped it around him. When Loki opened his eyes, he was absolutely certain of his success, considering how speechless Morgan was.

And she could be. If he had done everything correctly, she was now facing a perfect replica of herself.

"Incredible…" She whispered "It pains me to say so, but I think that I am one or two centimetres smaller."

Loki could not help sneering, but he dimensioned his appearance as requested. She really was small. At least, compared to him. For what he knew, she should be the standard height among Midgardian women.

She slowly walked around him, examining every single detail he could have missed. Loki did not move. He said a few sentences, with the same tone as hers. He had come up with this idea a long time ago, but he did not want to create a vague, basic illusion. He wanted his spell to be perfect, so that Morgan would not be able to tell the difference between a mirror and him.

"I am impressed." She concluded "And grateful. I have not seen the back of my head for a while."

The god of Mischief erased the illusion with a sweep of his hand. He was undeniably proud.

"Morgan Dumas." She suddenly said.

"Pardon?"

"This is my full name. Nothing original or meaningful about it. Dumas is actually quite a common surname in my country. It is also the one of a very famous author, sadly I do not think that I am his descendant."

"For what purpose would you tell me your full name?" Loki inquired.

This was suspicious indeed, considering how evasive she tended to be regarding her identity.

"You might as well know whose appearance you take." She shrugged.

Why taking so many different names, Loki wanted to ask, why hiding as a snake hunter in Australia, why coming to Whatever-its-name?

No. No _why_ yet. Only _who_.

"Loki… Odinson." He told.

If she had remarked the small hesitation, she made no mention of it.

"Odin… of course." She smiled "Well… Nice to see that we properly got to know each other, sooner or later."

Loki was feeling uneasy, he did not really know why. After all, it was not as if he had taken countless identities like she did. He had no reason to be ashamed of his name.

Or did he?

"Who is the homonymous author you mentioned?" He inquired, eager to change subject.

"Alexandre Dumas. My favourite book from him is by far _The Count of Monte-Cristo_. It is very long though, and I am sure to miss some key elements if I tell you the story right away."

"Later, then. For the time being, I need to practice my illusion spells."

"Please do not welcome me with fifteen Loki like last time."

"Do not tempt me." The god laughed.

She left. How many people on Midgard knew about Morgan Dumas, Loki wondered, probably not a lot.

But one thing was certain; only one person in the entire universe knew that Loki Odinson was not dead.

* * *

She felt strange.

Clearly, if Whatever-its-name had a good side, it was that names were not important. There, she could be Morgan Dumas as much as she wanted. But she was not alone anymore.

Morgan rose up from the couch. She took off her dress, enjoying to stay in underwear due to the heat. It was the middle of the night. The snakes were all sleeping. In two days, she would have to take her monthly trip to Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, to bring them and the venom stock to the hospital. At least fourteen hours by car. Awesome.

It had been two months since she met Loki. He had become accustomed to her, and so did she. At first, a part of her was always a little nervous when coming back to Whatever-its-name. Now, she just could not wait to do so. Of course, she was still living her life as Elisa Anderson, a herpetologist based in Oodnadatta.

Morgan leaned on the wooden wall, slowly sipping a glass of water. People were nice here. Obviously, she was not the only one coming here to lay low, and even if a lone and not ugly-looking woman sometimes raised a few questions, no one had ever bothered her.

Not as if they could, as a matter of fact.

Australia was beautiful. A harsh, hot, sometimes nasty country, but beautiful. She had travelled across a large part of the country to collect reptiles, and even if it occasionally seemed like the outback was holding a personal grudge against her, she had seen and done incredible things.

Maybe she should try the incredible in Whatever-its-name as well.

"But now, I should just rest."

She slept like a log.

* * *

Loki could not focus on anything. He had not managed to cast a new spell _a single time_. That was deplorable.

Something was not right. And he knew very well why.

Despite all his progress, his fear was still there. It never disappeared. He had managed to become familiar with Whatever-its-name and to bend some of its rules, but a part of him remembered from time to time that, no matter what he did, he was still trapped.

It seemed like now was one of these times. Loki sighed. He stopped his attempt at meditating and, eyes opened, he defied the great whiteness around him.

He felt strange.

Should he remain alone and try to confront his growing anxiety? Or should he call Morgan and quickly forget about it? It was impressive, how they had come to get along so well. Had they become… friends?

All things considered, they were talking about anything friends generally talked about, actually much more, so yeah, maybe they were. He had a Midgardian friend. Anything was possible.

Loki closed his eyes. White appeared exceptionally bright. He noticed that his hands were shaking a little. He was craving sensations. Bright colours, fluid movements, distant sounds, hints of perfume, taste in his mouth, texture against his skin.

He recalled the brief moment he had spent in Morgan's body. In a way, sensations were not the same as in his. What was it like, he suddenly wondered, to feel her skin against his?

It is not right, it is not sane, he thought. She was the only reason why he had not turned crazy here, so he had no one else to focus on. He should definitely not think about that. He did not want such a dependence.

Morgan as well, obviously. She was not stupid. She had come here as inquiring as he was. Both of them were learning from each other. No, he should definitely not endanger the trust they had built.

Trust?

Could he really talk about trust? Who could actually say what trust was? They had been honest to each other, but they had not revealed something that proved their trust.

Loki stood up and took a deep breath, releasing the tension in his shoulders. He had calmed down a little. He knew what to do.

"I have something to show you, Morgan Dumas."

"What do you want to show me, Loki Odinson?" She simply asked.

There was no irony in their sentences. On the contrary, both of they were very solemn.

"My name. Odinson is the name under which I was raised. The one I had when I was born was Laufeyson."

In the meantime, he repelled the powerful camouflage spell set by Odin when he was a baby. His skin became blue, his eyes red, and thin lines appeared on his face and arms.

"You are… A Frost Giant?" Morgan asked, remembering what Loki had said about the Nine Realms.

"A Jotunn." He confirmed.

She did not seem terrified. At all. Intrigued, maybe. She stared at him for a while, just like when he took her appearance last time.

"Aren't you surprised?" Loki asked.

"If you mean afraid, why should I be? Do you think yourself a monster?"

Loki did not really know what to answer. Yes, he wanted to say, he loathed this appearance, since the very day he learnt his true nature from Odin.

"Jotunns have always been depicted as monsters on Asgard." He explained.

"I see. It is funny, you know, how similar we are on Asgard and Midgard. People on Earth can see so many different monsters. It is actually very easy if you want to become one. Rely on your skin, your gender, your religion… No matter who you are, you will always be someone else's monster."

"So, what do you conclude about that?" Loki said, slowly coming back to his Asgardian appearance.

"Nothing. I have no reason at all to see myself as a monster just because others say so."

Eyes almost sparkling gold. This time, Loki was not annoyed at all.

"Besides, it is just blue skin and red eyes. Aren't monsters expected to kill me after excruciating torture?"

"I forgot to mention that my touch can literally burn your skin."

"Well, a single bite of the inland taipan can literally kill a hundred people. And there is barely one victim a year, generally an idiot who provoked the snake so much than he got what he should expect."

Loki was stunned. She was so _adaptable_. Yes, that was the right word. Of course, she had not grown up hearing dreadful legends about Frost Giants, but still…

"What about what I did, then? I rampaged and killed, not so long ago, didn't I?" He provoked.

"You also tried to possess my body and killed one my snakes." She added.

Of course. Thanks.

"And yet, here we are. You are not trying to kill me right now, I presume?"

"Your sense of observation is breath-taking." Loki sneered.

"If you _were_ a monster, you should do monstrous things all the time. No break. No turning back. Stressful job."

"Do you truly think that everyone has the potential not to be seen as a monster?"

"Ultimately, yes. You may think that I am naïve. However, for many people, it would take a really, really long time. Several lifetimes, at least. And most of us simply do not have the patience nor the will to wait."

Morgan paused. She seemed confused. Almost as much as Loki. No, she was more than confused. For the first time, he saw her struggling to speak.

"Do not assume that I was born with this statement in mind. I know what it is like to be called a monster. And then… to break everything out of anger."

Anger. Loki knew it too well. Not the frustration they both felt when they shouted at each other, but real, deep anger, the one that makes you burn, the one the devours you. Anger was the real monster. The monster he had been once, the monster he wanted to rely on when everything seemed desperate.

"What did you break?" He asked.

Maybe he should not have. But he knew Morgan well enough not to insist if she chose not to answer. The fact was, she did.

"My mother. My father. My sister. I broke them all."

Loki certainly did not expect _that_.

* * *

 **Suggested end song:** _ **The World Spins Madly On**_ **, The Weepies.**

 **I just want to clarify something: as you know, this is a rated-M fiction. So, there will indeed be crude language (episodically), lemon (definitely not yet) and, most of all, twisted morals and disturbing psychological trauma (the first and second chapter are soft, compared to what's coming). I mention twisted morals because Morgan and Loki are not really what you can call heroes and I don't want them to be. They have their own ways of justifying their actions and to perceive the world.**

 **I hope you enjoy the story so far, la bise!**


	10. Time to make a deal

"Your turn, now." Morgan ordered "What do you conclude about that? What do you say about one of the most horrible crimes you can ever conceive?"

Loki stayed silent for a few seconds. He expected something like rampaging a city, just like him, but not that she would murder her closest relatives. Then he recalled the time he tried to kill Thor. And yet, his brother, this kind-hearted oaf, had forgiven him. Or something like that. They hugged. Briefly. Still counts. Anyway.

"You said "broke", not "killed", I recall." Loki enhanced, remembering how both of them always played on words.

"And I recall describing monstrous acts as killing after excruciating torture. This is exactly what I did. This is what I call breaking."

Anger, sorrow, defiance, he could see all of that.

"And yet, here we are." Loki finally said "You are not trying to break me, are you?"

"Thank you for noticing."

"We have both told what we did. I think it is not time for the why."

"Definitely."

She disappeared, without any warning.

Right, they had revealed a lot, Loki thought. Almost an honesty overdose. Both were clearly not used to that.

He felt incredibly selfish but could not help being a little reassured to know that she had her own dreadful deeds to deal with. She had been cruel. She had been afraid. She had run away. Morgan was definitely not the righteous and compassionate type of person. She was not going to help him dealing with his problems, and he was not going to ask further questions about her actions if she did not want to, in spite of his growing curiosity.

Yet, she was already one step ahead from him. She had escaped Whatever-its-name, while he was still trapped there. But not for long, he tried to convince himself, not for long.

* * *

"What are you doing, Morgan?"

She was laying on the soft hotel bed. Almost too comfortable, compared to her thin mattress in Oodnadatta. That did not matter. She had always been able to sleep on anything, anywhere.

Today, she had driven six hours from Glendambo and directly went to give the snakes to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Today was her birthday. The tenth of March. She was twenty-nine. Not as if she cared much.

 _My mother. My father. My sister. I broke them all._

What was she doing?

"Psychotherapy sessions with a Frost Giant." She said out loud, and she sniggered at the absurdity of the situation.

She admired Loki. She knew about Earth but he knew about the entire Universe. She had abilities but he had magic.

Also, she had brown and golden eyes, while he had green and red eyes. Right combination for a Christmas tree.

Morgan wondered what it would have been like, if she had met him here, in the real world. Considering how unfriendly their first encounter had been, they would probably never have shared anything. But maybe, maybe they would have gotten to know each other better, maybe she would have lent him _The Count of Monte-Cristo_ , maybe he would have spoken with the inland taipan, maybe they would have tasted a bottle of wine together…

What was she doing?

No, it was not the right question.

"What do I want?" She asked herself out loud.

The answer came easily. She wanted to get him out. Very well.

Morgan swiftly got up to grab her mobile phone, still charging, and took an umpteenth electric shock.

"Ugh! Seriously…" She muttered, then dialled one of the numbers she knew by heart.

It was around eight in the evening in Adelaide, and if she remembered correctly it was four in the afternoon for him.

"Avalon Estate Agency, how may I help you?" Said a feminine voice with an impeccable English accent, three seconds later.

"Hello, I would like to talk to Mr Tapas Desai please. It is a rather urgent matter. We discussed about the perspective of a new estate in Galway."

"Very well, please hold."

Her heart was accelerating in her chest. If she wanted to back down, it was now or never.

"Morgan?" Said a deep, hoarse voice.

He is half-crying, half-laughing, she thought. Only at this moment did she realized how she had missed him.

"Do you remember the second part of the deal?"

Two seconds of silence. Now he was probably rubbing his forehead.

"Adelaide Railway Station. Oh, and I have your birthday present."

He hung up. Morgan shivered.

* * *

On the tenth of March 2018, there were three people in the entire world who knew who Morgan Dumas was. The first one was her maternal grand-mother, who actually had Alzheimer disease for more than eight years and was living in a retirement home in the South East of France. The second one was Morgan herself. And the third one liked to be called Tapas, because it had an actual Hindi signification, which was "ascetic", as well as a Spanish meaning, namely "little appetizer".

One of the many things both of them shared, and came to appreciate to an extent, was this reliance on other names. One of the few things they did not share was their culinary tastes. He was a vegetarian. And Morgan's resistance to spices was not far from absolute zero. However, if a friendship could be maintained despite opposite food preferences, it was the guarantee that nothing else could ever break it.

At least, this was what Morgan repeated over and over to convince herself, while waiting at the entrance of the Railway Station. It was almost midnight, yet the streets were full of people enjoying the warm summer night. Kids running around with ice cream, students already a little tipsy, tourists taking selfies and _oh, here he is_.

She turned around. She had never been found of long phone discussions, hence their brief and almost cold conversation a few hours ago.

"I forgot how small you were." He started.

"Strangely, I did not."

They began to walk, side by side, slowly. At least, _he_ was going slowly, considering how tall he was, compared to her. He stayed pretty silent for a while. Morgan knew what was going to follow, and she could not blame him for that.

"What you did was really shitty. It has been seven months since you left and I still can't believe it. You know that I am going to ask you a shit ton of questions."

"That is perfect timing, I have a fuck ton of answers."

They went past St Peter's Cathedral, right in the middle of the city centre, and entered a park.

"Lefevre Park." He read "Oh, dear, you are incorrigible."

"Of course, I am. How is it going, Tapas?"

"Not bad at all. I would even say, extremely good. Pity you left right before we acquired this apartment in Madrid, by the way. A Spanish-speaking negotiator would have been perfect. Anyway, Avalon is still present in eight countries but it is gaining fame like crazy. Malaya is the ideal next target. Then perhaps Indonesia."

They sat down on a bench. The air was becoming a little colder, but not enough to make them shiver. He rummaged in his backpack and got a little Kraft package out.

"But we are not here to talk business, are we? I suppose we are going to get our ass kicked sooner or later, so, happy birthday."

Morgan tore the wrapping paper and seized the thin piece of metal.

"I really couldn't resist." He confessed.

"I expected no less." She smiled.

It was a knuckle-duster, shaped with four rings. Not really impressive, but truly destructive. Morgan looked at the two pale blue eyes.

"And tell me, how is it going, Som?"

"It depends. I may have missed you, once in a while."

In an instant, they were in each other's arms. Morgan felt ridiculously small compared to him.

"I am sorry." She whispered.

He did not answer. He did not move. He was not smiling, he was not crying either. He was just hugging her and that was it.

"I am _so_ sorry…"

"Alright. You said it." He interrupted.

They gently pulled apart. His new haircut is better than the one I knew months ago, Morgan briefly thought.

"Now, tell me: what the fuck is going on?!"

* * *

Was Thor alive?

Loki was trying to focus on anything but that. He knew no answer was possible, and constantly thinking about it would not change a damn thing, but still, he could not help wondering what had become of his brother. Had he survived Thanos' wrath?

His last words to him had been spoken with disappointment and resignation. "You really are the worst, brother." Of course, these were not his true last words, Loki tried to convince himself. He had been gagged by this telekinetic alien. He would have said that he forgave him. Yes, he would have.

But he sounded like "Yeah, of course you stole the Tesseract. Of course. You cannot help being yourself, can you? I mean, I still like you but you still have your tricks, right?"

Right. This was why he had tried to kill Thanos in the most stupid way ever. He had tried to prove his brother that he could be something else than a trickster. That he could die with honour. Loki felt stupid, surely.

 _If you were a monster, you should do monstrous things all the time._

He had done monstrous things, and he had done stupid things. But he _was_ _not_ a monster, and he _was_ _not_ stupid.

Same for Morgan. She said arrogant things but she was not arrogant all the time. She had done terrible things but she was not a terrible person.

So, what did he want?

The answer seemed obvious. He wanted to make his brother see what a trickster _actually was_.

Well then, what could he do at the moment? Wasn't there any other question left unanswered?

What did he want _now_?

"Come and see, Morgan." He called.

"What should I see?" She answered straight away.

She had appeared just in front of him, and immediately noticed the smile on his face. It was the "you won't believe it and you will probably curse in French" type of smile. She braced herself.

"Me." Said a third voice behind her.

Morgan slowly turned around, because she knew this voice very well. Of course, since it was _her_ voice.

She was facing herself. Her sight repeatedly travelled from Loki to Illusion-Morgan, and from Illusion-Morgan to Loki.

"Hello, my name is Morgan Dumas." The newcomer said.

"What a coincidence. Mine as well. Would you by any chance happen to live in Southern Australia at the moment?"

"How did you guess? Surely, we have a lot in common."

The same voice, the same way of speaking. The visual replica was perfect was well. Movements were fluids, every single detail was there. And Loki was watching both Morgan and his illusion, casually strolling around them.

"Just when I began to think your illusions could not be any more remarkable." Morgan beamed.

"Never say never." Loki answered, and Illusion-Morgan disappeared in a flash of green.

"From everything I have seen, that is to say a lot, I can assume that you have a much greater control on your magic than the first time we met?" Morgan asked.

"That is quite an understatement." The god smirked "And, from what I see now, you have a plan up your sleeve."

"Oh, yes I do. Time to make a deal."

* * *

 **Suggested end song:** _ **Renegades**_ **, X Ambassadors.**

 **New answers, new questions, and a new character! I really couldn't resist, but don't worry, it will not take five chapters to know his real name.**

 **Thank you Nayruh, Rweeks and crazyfanno1 for following my story!**


	11. Red light, Green light

"What sort of plan? And what sort of deal?" Loki feverishly inquired.

Funny, how such a small sentence had so radically changed the atmosphere. The second before, they were casually talking about his skills for illusions. Now was the time for strategy.

"How to put it…" Morgan thought out-loud "I have a co-worker who is very skilled at finding weirdness."

"A co-worker?"

" _And_ only person on Earth whom I trust with my life."

"Good for you, but that still does not explain your intention."

"He is going to help us finding a helpful weirdness."

Loki suddenly felt a sharp tension in his mind.

"Who is he? What does he know about me?" He asked frantically.

"Calm down." Morgan said, raising her hands in a peaceful manner "I have not told him anything about you. Anything at all. Yet."

The Asgardian did not reply but was still considering her with an interrogating look.

"I understand this must be really surprising, and I also had my share of enigmatic answers." She pursued "I am going to tell you the why and the how of the plan."

"I guess it all starts with a story." Loki sneered.

"As everything does. It all starts with Doctor Strange." Morgan began "Well, not exactly. It all starts with those funny little rings he uses to teleport pretty much everywhere he wants. It works like…"

"I know how it works." Loki sighed.

"Oh, alright. The same way former surgeon Steven Strange heard about the Masters of the Mystic Arts, my co-worker of a friend heard about them. He thought about joining them, for a while. Then, he got tired of it. Apparently, their world was as full of dumb rules as the one he previously left. But he figured out he might as well keep one of these very practical teleportation rings for himself. No world-domination perspective in mind, just to have some peace and quiet when he wants to. Obviously, it was not that easy. So, I _might_ have helped him breaking into a sanctuary in Kathmandu, stealing the aforesaid ring and permanently escaping the mystical radar. On the condition, of course, that he owed me the same type of favour."

Morgan smiled at the sight of Loki's approving look.

"Consequently, this is exactly what we are going to do. Come back to Nepal, steal a dusty item and break the running world record."

"I begin to understand. What is the dusty item in question?"

"A book."

"About?"

Morgan paused. She was carefully choosing her words.

"You should know this about my friend; he has an extraordinary visual memory. It is simply stunning. If he carefully looks at a painting, he will be able to find again, be it ten years later and in a completely different museum. You see, when he was hanging around in the Masters' Library, this book caught his attention. It is a very ancient item, entirely written in some lost language."

"Then, why do you think that it could be useful?"

"Because," Morgan smiled slyly "It was the only book in the Library whose whole cover was white."

Loki's eyes widened. A clue. A potential clue about what Whatever-its-name was. He could not believe it.

"Let me tell you one thing: I have no idea what this book is about, and neither does he. Maybe it will not help us at all. But if there is a slight chance that it is the case, be it as ridiculous as it seems, are you ready to take it?"

"Is it risky?" Loki said.

"It is among the riskiest things I have done and will ever do."

The god of Mischief took a long look at her. She was nervous. But not about the plan in itself. He knew why.

"All this time, you had the possibility to take this book and gather some information about this place."

"Indeed."

"You could have told me before. But you were wary of me. You said that you were not going to risk anything for me."

"Exactly."

No shame in her tone. Acceptance, that was all.

"But now you do?"

"Funny, isn't it?" Morgan asked "I did not trust Loki of Asgard, who could not use his powers at all. And now, I trust Loki Odinson, a Frost Giant who is able to turn into a snake and to create replicas of himself."

Loki stayed silent. Thor's words crept back in his mind.

 _I wish I could trust you._

The shape-shifter and the snake-catcher. Such an uncanny alliance indeed.

"And honestly, if I did not trust you, why would I tell you all of this?" Morgan pointed out.

She had a point.

"One last thing." He remarked "You said that this book is written in a language no one could read anymore. How will you be able to decipher it?"

"I cannot decipher it. However, I know a so-called god of Mischief who is gifted with All-Speak, among other things…"

"And is trapped in a place called Whatever-its-name."

"And managed to get his conscience out for a moment. By now, his magic doesn't need any _base_ , does it?"

Loki understood. Oh, this Midgardian was definitely crazy.

"This is madness. _Both_ our minds, in _your_ body. This will destroy you in an instant."

"No, it will not."

"I know you are not like all the humans. But this… This is…"

"Do you remember the time where I said that not talking about my powers did not mean that I could not show them to you?" She cut short.

And now her eyes were sparkling gold again.

"This will be the greatest show." Loki smiled.

* * *

"This will be a shitshow." He sighed.

"Being pessimistic will not make it better."

They were sitting on the sand of Henley, one of Adelaide main beaches. It was nearly eight in the morning and the fresh wind on their face had a taste of paradise. The sun was rising at the horizon, colouring the calm sea with pink and yellow tones. The two of them was alone on the beach, save for one or two joggers, from time to time. Morgan took another sip from her coffee.

"It is 4am in Mumbai, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is 4am in Mumbai and you know it very well. You just don't want to answer this simple question: why?"

She rummaged a little around her. Each time she had sand to play with, she could not help but coming back to this childhood reflex.

"Morgan, I will help you, you know that. Of course, I hoped for everything but returning to Nepal, anyway, that doesn't matter, but why are you suddenly interested in a book I told you about _years_ ago?"

"Do you remember how I was, right before I left?"

"Of course, I do. And I am glad you seem as strong as ever, now. Which is why I have no reason to spare you: why are we doing this?"

"You never give up, do you?" Morgan smiled.

"If I did, we would not be talking about breaking into a monastery while taking breakfast on Henley beach."

"That is exactly what I told him."

"Him?"

"Loki."

"Who?"

"Loki."

"Okay… My guess is that you met some kind of Norwegian or Swedish backpacker in the bush and you got along well, and he wants to become a monk in Kathmandu… That does not sound like you and makes zero sense. The only Loki I have heard about is that nutty alien guy with reindeer horns that ransacked New York city six years ago, but…"

She slowly savoured her coffee.

"Oh, Morgan..."

"I am perfectly sane."

"You have never been sane at all, and neither was I. But when I said "a sane life is a boring one", I did not imply that you should help a mass-murderer stealing some crappy book in Nepal. Even though I must say, good job. I expected everything but that."

Morgan laughed. She had told Loki that, sooner or later, he would have to be informed at least a little of what was going on. Although the god of Mischief had been reluctant at first, she had quickly spotted a light of interest in his eyes for this bizarre and audacious specimen of a human.

* * *

This bizarre and audacious specimen of a human was called Som. The way he pronounced it, people would often hear "son", or "sun", or even "sum". This confusion delighted him.

He was born in Calcutta, Bengal, spoke six languages, had blue eyes, which was quite rare for an Indian, and loved to play piano. He was also known as Tapas Desai, current director of the Avalon Estate Agency, based in Mumbai. When she called him, after seven months of complete silence, Morgan has used one of the many codes they set up, which was "the perspective of a new estate in Galway" and basically meant "drop everything you have and come right away".

The best metaphor for the story of Som and Morgan was a firework. A lot of bright colours and deafening noises. Twenty seconds later, nothing. Then it starts again. Needless to say, despite all their bad moments, and they had many, questioning their friendship was unthinkable. But a deal remained a deal, and if Morgan needed help with insane stuff, Som was more than pleased to give her a hand.

As well as a new knuckle-duster.

"Believe me, this one is unbreakable."

"It looks like it, indeed. Thank you, by the way."

"You are welcome. So, what is our friend, at least _your_ friend, Loki, doing in the middle of Australia? Wasn't he captured by the righteous, honourable, mysterious and generous Avengers?"

Som was laying on the sand, his backpack under his head. Anyone taking a look at them would never have guessed that they were planning to break into a Nepalian sanctuary.

"Technically, he is not on Earth. I cannot even say that he _is_ , in fact. He is currently trapped in Whatever-its-name."

"The white world?"

"That is how you call it. You are the only one to know about it without having ever set foot there."

"And I am not really looking forward to it. Morgan, before you continue, and I know my question will be at best incredibly stupid, but we are talking about a guy who tried to invade Earth…"

"You would like to know if I am in full control of my own mind?"

Som reluctantly nodded.

"Tell me something only Real-Morgan-With-a-Clear-Mind would know."

Alright. She showed him that her name was Morgan. He smiled.

"Okay, sorry about that. A part of me still cannot believe it and is really afraid for you, another just cannot wait to meet this god of Mischief. Can I have the full story now, please?"

He could.

Morgan firstly told him about Elisa Anderson, the herpetologist from Melbourne who had established a contract with the Royal Adelaide Hospital, finding specific venomous snakes across in Southern Australia. She had decided to be based next to the town of Oodnadatta, far from pretty much everything except snakes, spiders and mosquitoes. Then, she had wandered in the Outback on her own, which was exactly what she wished for. Meanwhile, Morgan was visiting the White World. Som never tried to ask further questions about it, first because he did not understand it, second because he did not like it (but one went with the other).

The thing was, she met Loki.

Apparently, he was really different from the one documentaries and testimonies depicted. Their early encounters had been, let's say, lively, but they had come to learn from each other, and finally to establish a mutual respect and trust she would never have imagined.

"This… This is incredibly crazy and crazily incredible. You said he could turn into a _snake_? And even turn into _you_?"

"When he does, he discovers the extent of French curse lexicon."

Som burst into laughter.

"Oh, I've missed you!"

"So did I, Som."

They stayed silent for a while. Then, Som stood up and extended his hand towards Morgan, who grabbed it and almost flied above him when he lifted her up.

"Kathmandu tomorrow?"

"Kathmandu tomorrow."

He searched in his backpack and got a very recognizable set of two rings out, put them on and waved his hand.

"It's been a while since I played red light, green light." He scoffed.

Morgan found herself alone on Henley beach. Day off, then. Maybe she could take a swim.

* * *

 **Suggested end song: _The Greatest Show_** **, from the movie The Greatest Showman (although the entire soundtrack is amazing!).**

 **From now on (wink wink), the landscape is going to change, with more movement ahead. And more questions. What is Whatever-its-name? What are Morgan's powers? When is Thanos coming? Is Som as crazy as Morgan and Loki? (The answer is yes. Funny, I already used his name in the previous chapter but apparently some (easy one) were focused on Tapas).**

 **Thank you very much nutsoverteas,** **EspritLutin, DimensionalTravel (nice nickname!) and Roughshodhail for following my story!**


	12. The Fay, the Elf and the Mage

"You cut your hair." Loki instantly remarked.

"Indeed. I like them short."

Morgan's dark hair were cut right below her ears. They were also curlier than usual, Loki noticed. This detail caught his attention because having short hair was something seen as very unusual, not to say laughable, in Asgard. But laughable was definitely not the first word that came to his mind when describing Morgan. Defining her in a single word was suicidal task.

"Apart from capillary conversation, I wanted to say that we are going to Kathmandu tomorrow." She informed.

"About that," Loki started "Do you have any useful skill in case you find yourself in a fight?"

The fact that she began to think about it was not a good sign, to Loki's opinion.

"Kind of." She finally answered.

"Kind of? You have kind of useful skills?"

"I suppose. I know how to throw a punch. And I always carry a knuckle-duster with me."

The Asgardian thought she was joking.

"Not a wooden sword? Or a water-pistol?"

"I do not like to fight. I always try to find the least complicated way to get out of a dangerous situation. Most of the time, it works."

"What happens during the few occasions where it does not?"

"Generally, I am very fast."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means what it means. I am fast when I catch snakes, I am fast when I climb trees or rocks, and I am fast when I run. As the late Lord Pratchett wrote, I run, therefore I am. More exactly, I run, therefore I will still be."

That was it for Loki. He did not know who this Pratchett was but containing his laughter started to become really hard.

"You really are the first being I ever hear bragging about his ability to run away."

"As you said, never say never." Morgan smirked "However, this is not the most important thing at the moment. What we need to know is whether or not you can manage to share my mind."

It is suicidal, but she is dead-serious, Loki thought. The risk was indeed enormous. They could be trapped in each other's body again, or much worse…

"Are you sure about this?"

"I am surely sure. We would better give it a try if you are ready."

They sat down right in front of each other, legs crossed, hands on their knees. Loki tried not to appear nervous. Morgan closed her eyes, utterly still. He slowly breathed out. Alright, he had to rely on her confidence. The same way she relied on his.

"Let's wake up." She whispered.

And they opened their eyes.

* * *

Spinning head. The usual, but that was it.

Morgan was sit in the floor of her hotel room, her back against the bed. Loki was in front of her, in the same position. Everything had happened in the blink of an eye, and she could say that again. The god of Mischief took an incredulous look around him, while Morgan was drinking the usual half a litre of water.

"Where are we?" Loki finally asked "This is not your home."

"We are in Adelaide. It is the capital city of the state of South Australia. I live in a much more remote place, not far from a small town called Oodnadatta. Each month, I come here to deliver the snakes I captured to the central hospital."

Morgan slowly stood up and opened the curtains. It was the end of the afternoon and the sun was exceptionally bright. Australian autumn had just begun, which meant that going to the beach during the day without burning alive was becoming possible.

Loki came closer to the window. There was not much to see, save for tall grey buildings, but facing something else than the colour white surely was incredible in itself.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Perfectly normal."

"Do you even realize what just happened?"

"It seems pretty obvious to me. It is like a race. Instead of fighting each other to win, we crossed the line together at the exact same time."

The Asgardian shook his head in disbelief. He was truly incredulous.

"I have _never_ heard about such a situation. Actually, I did. Some foolish mages have attempted this type of connexion, in order to share knowledge and experience. The result was always disastrous. For those who managed to stay more than a handful of seconds, they came back with their minds shattered, or their body paralyzed, often both."

"Not a very appealing perspective." Morgan winced "You are not feeling shattered, are you?"

Loki extended his hand towards hers and went through it. He was a projection, which was only seeing and hearing through her mind.

"I am not _feeling_ at all, actually." He smirked.

"I see... Ah!"

Morgan suddenly withdrew her right hand from the window she wanted to open.

"What happened?!" Loki exclaimed.

"Statistical electricity." She explained, with a resigned smile "I may have been cursed by your brother the god of Thunder."

Loki still looked a little tensed, as if he expected to see her hand dissolving, or something like that.

"I am fine." She repeated "But I have to leave soon. This hotel room, I mean."

"Concretely, I am just in your head."

"Indeed. For once, it is reassuring to hear this."

* * *

Morgan put her backpack in the back of the truck, a Ford Raptor F-150 that may have been white in another lifetime. Her car was perfectly adapted to her multiple travels across the Australian outback, and spacious enough to welcome ten to fifteen large boxes containing venomous snakes.

"Where are you heading?" Loki asked, casually settled on the passenger's seat.

"Where are _we_ heading. You may be just in my mind but you are still you, so that makes us two." Morgan smiled "And our destination is Port Augusta, up north."

"This is also very interesting. The fact that we are still ourselves. Our minds remain completely independent from each other's thoughts." Loki pointed out.

"Keeping some privacy is probably for the best." She asserted, then started the car.

Fortunately, she remembered the exact speed limit. The latter mattered very little in the Outback, considering the inexistent traffic, and she loved to drive fast on the dusty roads, with some loud background music.

Loki was looking all around him. So many images at the same time left him speechless. Morgan decided to take the coastal road, on the banks of the Spencer Gulf. The sun was getting low, and she admired the colours of the sea. She still needed to be careful. Roads were large and easy to drive on, but the main danger was the animals crossing them, especially at dusk. Talking about animals...

"On your right." She indicated, and he turned his head on time to see around a dozen kangaroos jumping away from the road.

"Strange creatures…" The Asgardian muttered.

"If you consider _these_ strange, trust me, you don't want to know the Australian standards." She taunted.

"Well played." Loki laughed.

Morgan stayed silent for a moment, a smile on her face. She knew they were about to confront some Masters of the Mystic Arts in Nepal to steal a book which had a very high potential of proving completely useless, but at this very moment, all of this seemed pretty much unimportant.

It had actually been a while since she felt so relaxed.

* * *

Morgan drove for a long time. Loki did not try to ask for how long. The very notion of time was far away, and it really did not matter much at the moment. He still could not believe that he was out of Whatever-its-name. The Midgardian's mental strength must be colossal. And, frankly speaking, his as well.

No more white. Dark, actually. The night was falling. Yet, he felt like his vision was more acute than ever.

Most of all, he felt good. Incredibly good. He took a look at Morgan, who was focusing on the road. She seemed very serene as well. Loki suddenly remembered something.

She was doing this for him. She had nothing other than trouble to gain from this expedition, and yet she was running head-on towards it. No explanation was needed. She was doing this because she wanted to.

The silence between them was familiar. It was not the oppressive kind, but the peaceful one. So, Loki just enjoyed the view.

It was pitch black night when Morgan arrived at what Loki supposed was their meeting point. She got out of the car and stretched her arms a little.

"There are very few people here, so leaving my car is relatively safe. Furthermore, if everything goes according to plan, it will only take us a few hours."

"Is your friend as fast as you or does he have some potentially useful abilities?" Loki sneered.

"To my mind, teleportation and an almost photographical memory is already a good base. Oh, by the way, he should use codenames."

"I feel like your next suggestion will be to play hide and seek."

"I know I sound like a six-year-old right now, but I am not joking. We are talking about confronting the Masters of the Mystic Arts. Even a fake identity, like Elisa Anderson or Tapas Desai, is enough for them to find us, wherever we are on Earth. These people are worse than French tax authorities."

"Alright, what do you suggest?"

"He is the Elf. I am the Fay. You can be the Mage. Sounds good to you?"

"Asking why is probably useless, but still…" Loki sighed.

"Just some long-lasting jokes. Seriously, we need generic common nouns. Pick the one you want."

"Mage is fine."

All of a sudden, a sparkling golden ring appeared in front of them, and a tall man with brown skin appeared. Of approximately the same age than Morgan, he was warmly dressed, had pale blue eyes and black hair.

"Hi, Som."

"Hi, Morgan. Ouch. It's hot. I took some clothes for you as well."

He put a bag on the floor and took pants, gloves and a warm coat out. Morgan put them over the clothes she was already wearing.

"Alright, it is 8pm in Nepal, we will not arrive very far from the monastery." Som explained.

"Why not directly into the Library?" Loki inquired.

"Because if there are some evening readers, we would be falling into a ridiculous trap." Morgan answered.

"Are you talking to yourself or to Loki? I don't know which one is the most reassuring." Som asked.

"Technically, both. Our two minds are coexisting. He is seeing and hearing what I see and hear. A few steps on your left."

"Hi." Loki said.

"And he says hi."

"Hello. Okay, so he is both out there _and_ in you. Sexual connotation non-intended."

"My appreciation of you is really mitigated." Loki whispered at his ear.

"By the way, he is the Mage now."

"Alright, La Fay. It's been a while."

Morgan had put on the winter equipment. She was starting to be hot as well. Last but not least, she tried the knuckle-duster on her right hand. It fitted impeccably.

"Which transitions on the way back?" She asked.

"First, Copenhagen. Then, Kuala Lumpur. Finally, Ulaanbaatar."

"Bless you."

"What are these names?" Loki interrogated.

"Security measures. Some very experimented masters may be able to trace the destination of a portal. At least, once. Going through several stations around the world in a short amount of time is a simple and efficient way to confuse them." Morgan explained.

"Ingenuous."

"I'm really not comfortable with him being here but not really here." Som sighed "Are you discreetly trying to brainwash me?"

"Yes, I am brainwashing you right now." Loki smirked.

Morgan rolled her eyes.

"Ready?" She asked.

Both Loki and Som looked at her and nodded. The Indian put his rings back and the door to their reckless plan opened.

* * *

 **About the cue "I run, therefore I am", I thought that it sums up pretty well Morgan's situation. I haven't read all the Discworld books, but this one is from _Eric_ , which is one of my favourite from Terry Pratchett ^^**


	13. Birthday surprise

The transition from South Australia to the valley of Kathmandu had been brutal. The temperature was below ten degrees, which was more than enough to make both Som and Morgan shiver. Understandably, Loki was not concerned at all with this issue, given that he could not feel warmth nor cold. The fact was, he longed for a freezing atmosphere. Any kind of atmosphere, actually, even the terrible heat he felt back in Oodnadatta.

The streets were full of people walking, talking, eating, in short, doing everything that could be done in the streets. Som and Morgan walked steadily. It was not easy for them to blend in, especially for her, whose dark hair and sun-tanned complexion did not hide her Occidental origin, but the inhabitants seemed quite used to see tourists, even away from the main sightseeing.

The transition had been brutal for Loki as well. For he-did-not-know-how-long, Morgan was the only person he had seen and talked to, and now he found himself literally drowning in a flood of people. Not the most pleasant condition.

"Do not get distracted, Mage." She warned, a few steps ahead of him.

"I am not _distracted_." Loki mumbled.

The night was falling, and they were getting further away from the busy streets. Pedestrians and vehicles were becoming scarce.

"It has not changed at all." Som noticed on a derisive tone.

The alleged Kamar-Taj sanctuary was far less impressive than what Loki had thought, but he knew by experience that appearances can always be misleading. What seemed strange was the facility with which Som and Morgan entered. Loki would have called it carelessness if it was not for Morgan, whom he knew was more than careful. They crossed a little courtyard, then entered a corridor. No locks, no guardians, Loki noted. These mystical masters were either incredibly stupid or insultingly confident. In both cases, nothing prevented them from arriving in front of an over decorated wooden door.

"No one inside, Fay?"

"No one, Elf."

Som opened the door. Five seconds later, the burglar alarm woke all Kathmandu up.

* * *

Morgan was not really optimistic by nature. She was not pessimistic either. She just paid attention to what was going on, and then accepted that when something happened, well, something happened, and she had to cope with it anyway. The exception to this mindset (because there are always exceptions) was when it had something to do with Som. And maybe she should add Loki to the list. She could not help but to have a foreboding of not _if_ but _how_ the plan they established was going to fail.

"You must be joking…" Loki sighed.

All of a sudden, six different golden circles appeared.

The Kamar-Taj Masters did not seem particularly happy to see them. From what Morgan saw, the alarm had disturbed them right in the middle of their dinner. One of them was still holding something like a half-eaten rice cake in his left hand, while the right one was extended towards them, surrounded by intertwined gleaming figures.

"I sincerely advise you not to move." Said the person in front of them.

He was the older one, doubtlessly the most experimented, as well as a tall and well-built man. He was the only one not to have conjured sparkling figures around his hands. Instead, he was holding a staff, and Morgan instantly knew that it was a more destructive weapon that anything else in this room. Neither she nor Som had moved an inch. Their calmness obviously made them more suspicious.

"I feel like I know you…" He muttered, taking a long look at Som's face "Who are you?"

"May I ask what your plan is, now?" Loki whispered to Morgan, who did not flinch.

"I am just a random kid you bullied in primary school." Som grinned.

"Tokur, they seem to know the place." The Rice-Cake-Master said.

The so-called Tokur frowned, visibly trying to recall something. His gaze then surveyed Morgan.

"How come we did not see both of you entering..." He wondered out-loud.

"Maybe because you were not looking?" Som sarcastically answered.

"Silence! What are you looking for?" Tokur questioned, threatened him with the end of his staff.

As soon as he spoke, all six of the mages, himself included, stumbled on the floor.

The Library came back to its usual silence. Morgan was grateful for the alarm to have turned off, as the noise would have only amplified the migraine she was beginning to feel. She took a look at Som, who seemed perfectly fine, then at Loki, who had his hand on his head as well and was giving her a long, interrogating look. She was a hundred percent sure that her eyes had taken an almost shining gold colour.

"You wanted to see, well, you saw." She said.

* * *

"Sixth alley on our right." Som assured.

As they were running towards the indicated location, Loki was thinking at full speed. His head was hurting. Correction, Morgan's head was hurting. Catching a glimpse of her powers had confused him even more. First, she seemed to be able to know if there were people around. Second, she could literally knock them out, with no other side-effect than a headache. Oh, and there was that man's sentence, about not seeing them entering. Loki suddenly recalled what Morgan had said about Som, that she "might have helped him permanently escaping the mystical radar".

Many questions at the horizon.

"Here it is!" Morgan informed.

Indeed, the book was not difficult to notice. It looked old, decrepit and mice-eaten, but its front and back covers were entirely white. Som carefully climbed the shelf and grabbed it with extreme precaution. With the slightest wrong move, the item would probably turn into dust.

"Perfect. Now let's get the hell out of here!" He said.

He puts his rings on and slowly formed a circle, holding the precious book under his arm. As Morgan was about to step in, a golden ray shattered the portal. It would have shattered her as well, without her prodigious reflex.

Tokur was the only one standing. Standing was actually a euphemism. He was literally swaying, sweat covering his forehead, but was firmly holding his staff.

"You… will not… get away!" He shouted.

Som narrowly escaped a second ray. He was still firmly holding the book, thus could not move much.

"Doesn't he have a weapon?" Loki asked.

"Do you have a weapon?" Morgan repeated, while putting her knuckle-duster on.

"Do I look like having a weapon?" Som nervously answered.

Morgan had to dive behind a wooden table to avoid Tokur's staff. He had obviously understood that she was the main threat. Loki enraged. He could not intervene. The Master of the Mystic Arts swirled his weapon and send an even more powerful ray towards the woman, who instinctively protected her head with her right arm.

Another strangely interesting thing happened.

The ray should have at least propelled her against the shelves or knock her down. Yet, nothing happened. As if the thin metal piece around her fist had acted like an invisible shield.

Tokur looked as astounded as Morgan. Fortunately, she was the fastest to react. She leaped over the remains of the table and threw a powerful punch towards his chest.

And not only did her punch break his staff in half, it also sent him flying at least ten meters across the room. He fell on the five other masters, joining them into unconsciousness. As for Morgan, she was wincing in pain, holding her right arm tight.

"I may have missed something regarding Midgardian technology." Loki acknowledged.

"Time to walk very fast and very away." Som told.

All three left the half-destroyed sixth alley of Kamar-Taj Library behind them, to enter a shady street in Copenhagen.

* * *

Morgan regretted not to speak Danish. Otherwise, she would have asked for any kind of painkillers to the next chemist. Not only was the right side of her head hurting badly, but she was almost sure that her shoulder was dislocated. She had seen worse, but still.

Som owed her explanations.

But the Indian was leading the way towards the Nyhavn waterfront and opened a second portal to Malaya five minutes later. Kuala Lumpur was hot and humid, and she gladly took off her coat. To finish, Mongolia. Morgan had never seen Ulaanbaatar but the touristic visit would be for another time.

"So, let me get this straight" She started, as soon as they came back to Port Augusta, Australia "First, your flawless memory did not keep track of the loudest possible type of burglar alarm?"

"There was no burglar alarm when I was there!" Som asserted "I mean, they are old school Mystical Masters. Who would expect them to have one settled? For all that matters, I hope they have the Wi-Fi now."

"What is the Wi-Fi?" Loki inquired.

"I will explain later." Morgan mumbled "And second, what is that, a rocket-launcher? It broke this man's staff like a piece of glass and almost destroyed my own arm as well."

Som gently put the book on the ground and took his coat off. He did not really seem panicked. A little nervous, at best.

"Have you heard about this rare mineral called Vibranium?" He casually asked.

Morgan took a long look at her weapon. Then, looked at him again.

"Basically, it has the property to absorb kinetic energy. But not momentum, hence the impact on your arm. In a way, this guy destroyed his own staff all by himself. Told you it was unbreakable."

"My knuckle-duster is made of Vibranium…" Morgan whispered, incredulous "May I please know why you could not say so EARLIER?!"

"I did not want to ruin your birthday surprise!"

"I think I am actually starting to appreciate him." Loki smiled.

"Is the god of Mischief still with us, by the way?"

"Yes, and apparently he likes you." Morgan said, while casting a cynical look at Loki.

"Well, look forward to seeing you, and not only you seeing me." Som laughed "In the meantime, I hope we will see each other again, Morgan."

"We will." She assured.

He crossed the portal to Mumbai.

The first rays of the sun were appearing at the horizon. Morgan carefully moved her arm. The shoulder did not look dislocated, after all. Her migraine was fading as well. She took off the rest of her winter clothes.

"How did you befriend with this man?" Loki suddenly asked.

Morgan smiled shrewdly.

"The real question is: are we going to open this book or not?"

* * *

Loki felt a wave of excitement and apprehension. Morgan cautiously opened the volume and went to rummage in her car. She came back with a flashlight. These writings must be hundreds, if of thousands of years old, Loki thought. Besides, the pages were in a pathetic state, and many passages were unreadable. Since no one could read it, no one had thought about restoring it. Even mages were fools on Midgard.

"So, what language is it?" Morgan questioned.

"I cannot possibly know. I understand its signification, but I am not able to identify its origin."

The woman acquiesced. She seemed as captivated as Loki, even though she could not possibly know what it was about. She delicately turned the pages when he asked her to.

"The first pages are about the life of a man named… Agamotto, it seems. Apparently, he is the one who wrote it. There are many details about his wanderings on Earth, and how he assembled his first disciples… But they seem to have been added to the book itself, as I believe the next paragraph explains. By Hell, this is so hard to read! I would need days!"

"Well, you can have days." Morgan placidly said.

Loki looked at her with an expression of disbelief.

"Our kind of mental collaboration seems to work perfectly. I still need to rest though, but apart from that, I see no reason we should not attempt it again."

"This might slowly but surely take its toll on your body." The Asgardian warned.

"I know my limits. If I feel like I cannot bear more of it, I will tell you. But meanwhile, Som's birthday present has been far more destructive than you."

Loki laughed. That was bravery as he conceived it. Knowing one's strengths and limits, knowing when to fight and when to run.

His eyes were suddenly caught by a very short sentence. He stayed speechless.

"What does this mean?" Morgan inquired, spotting Loki's nervousness.

"I cannot believe it… This is what the book is actually about…" The god whispered.

He pointed a long, half-erased sentence.

"You can consider this as the title. The Cosmic Entities: Entropy, Eternity, Death, and Infinity."

Both Loki and Morgan looked at each other, with the same thrilled expression. They had a lot to discover.

* * *

 **No end song today, but I just want to suggest the video from the Youtube channel** _ **Because Science**_ **, "How does Black Panther's suit work?", which is really interesting about the possible explanation of Vibranium, if it was real.**

 **Answer to SoyBoy (nice!): First off, thank you very much for your review! I do my best not to make spelling mistakes, but I indeed make some grammatical ones, which doesn't reveal that I'm French but rather implies that I am English and stupid (#notmyproudestmoment). Yes, I struggle with the page setting on Fanfiction. I'm pretty new on this website so if someone can advise me on how to manage the paragraphs construction, it would be very helpful! I'm glad you appreciate the content! I have so much fun writing interactions between Morgan and Loki, I am happy to see that you enjoy it as well. As you can guess, many more to come. Thank you again!**

 **By the way, I answer all reviews, be it by Private Message for members or directly at the end of chapters for visitors. I don't bite if you write a review. That being said, I don't bite when you don't write one either.**

 **Thank you, NittanyLizard, phillyphanatic86, MitzvahRose and badwolffor3ver** **for following my story!**


	14. I am the one who looks

They spent hours deciphering. Morgan switched her flashlight off when the sunlight was enough for Loki to read, but apart from that, she did not move an inch.

"This is by far the greatest story I have ever heard…" She murmured.

It starts once upon never. Also, now. Nothing was nowhere, so nothing is everywhere and everything is nowhere. Once upon every, then. The every is alone. Then it is not. The one thing becomes four things: Entropy, Eternity, Death and Infinity.

Still get it?

Good.

So, the every cannot be destroyed. They shatter it. Paradoxical, but nothing makes sense, so, in a way, everything does.

They shattered the every into six pieces, and of course Morgan and Loki knew what those pieces were. Space and Time, Power and Reality, Mind and Soul. A way to put the every in an _actual_ where.

What follows is as simple as the creation of the universe.

* * *

"Oh, I think now I suffer from vertigo." Morgan sighed.

Loki had to admit, such an amount of revelations was more than enough to satisfy his curiosity. He could safely say that the latter curiosity had been rolled over, thrown from a cliff, shaken for several lifetimes, then drunk in order to forget all of this and start over.

Morgan heard voices behind here, coming from a group of tourists who had come to admire the view at dawn. Damn early birds. She closed the book and put it on one of the car backseats, then settled on the driver's seat.

"Loki, I am exhausted."

The Asgardian did not even reply. The night had been eventful indeed. He waited as she settled herself more comfortably.

Then she closed her eyes, and he opened his.

Alone again. He did not expect how painful it would be. He had been living an intense moment, and such a brutal rupture was badly affecting him. How ironical. He had a tangible body now, but nothing to interact with.

He did not want to wait. He really, _really_ did not want to be alone now. He called her and she came, as always.

"I still find it difficult to cope with such an amount of information." She nervously laughed "So, what can we conclude about this first reading?"

"We have not yet seen any precise description of Whatever-its-name, however I suppose we can have a better idea about what this place is."

Morgan nodded, letting Loki start.

"I would consider it as the birth place of the Infinity Stones. Or even the one of the Cosmic Entities. As you said, it has no Time nor Space. It is nowhere and everywhere, as well as now and never. The bad news is that, following this logic, I may as well be dead or alive." Loki concluded.

"Like Schrodinger's Cat." Morgan remarked.

"What is it?"

"Like Whatever-its-name, it is very simple and very complex. It depends on how you see it. It basically gave birth to Quantum Physics. A cat, a flask of poison and a radioactive source are placed in a box, where an internal monitor can detect radioactivity. If a single atom decays, the flask is shattered, releasing the poison, which kills the cat. The interpretation is that, as long as no one looks into the box, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. Yet, when one looks in the box, one sees the cat either alive or dead, not both alive and dead."

"So, I am the cat. Whatever-its-name is the box."

"And I am the one who looks."

"And what do you see?"

"I see a very much alive Loki."

She was smiling. Her eyes were brown. For the first time, he did not care.

"And I can carry on this logic even further." She added "Because, like Schrodinger's Cat, you can _do_ nothing as well as everything. You can _go_ nowhere as well as everywhere."

"This idea was there, when you talked about having an objective."

"Kind of, indeed."

So, what did it mean? If he could get out, he would, so what was stopping him?

"Do you want to come?" Morgan asked.

Loki readily nodded and found himself back in the car. The transitions had been so easy, so natural. Morgan must have slept only for a few hours, then come back to Whatever-its-name right away.

"What do you want to do?"

This question caught him off-guard. Not as if he was able to do many things. And yet…

"I think I want some explanations."

Morgan immediately knew what he was talking about. She got out of the car and sat in the shade of a tree. The group of tourists was gone. The sun was high in the sky, and Loki could hear the sea behind them.

"I was dreading this question."

"Do you want to answer it?"

"Yes and no. That is why I could not mention it in Whatever-its-name." She chuckled.

"Perhaps I already guessed a lot about you." Loki started.

Morgan gave him an interrogating look.

"Your power comes from one of the Stones." He asserted.

She was speechless.

"I was already considering the option before. But, if the book of the Cosmic Entities is correct, and it seems to be, only the Stones can lead to their birth place, that is to say Whatever-its-name. I think the Space Stone may have sent me there. I have wielded it, which created a sort of connexion."

Morgan did not interrupt him. He carried on.

"From what I saw of your powers, from what I saw of your particular way to observe things, as well as your unique mix of distance and empathy, you can influence souls. Manipulate them. Bend them. Or even destroy them."

She leaned against the tree, seemingly incapable of pronouncing a single word. Loki expected to feel quite proud of being so accurate. But this feeling was quite late.

"And you do not hate me for that?" She finally asked.

"Why would I hate you for that?"

"Why? Well, the answer is quite simple. I can control living beings' emotions. I can make snakes docile. I can make anyone afraid of me. I can make someone hate himself so bad that he decides to end his life… And yet, you still…"

Loki burst into laughter. Morgan looked even more disoriented.

"This is absolutely fantastic!" The Asgardian said "For an undefinable amount of time, you came to talk to me, then you shrugged when I said that I was a monster, lately you took risks just to help me, and I see right now that you are making every single mistake and misjudgement I have ever made. Deep down, you still see yourself as a monster. This is _so_ ironical!"

"Do you think it is that easy?!" She suddenly screamed "Do you think I simply need to say "oh yeah right, I forgot that I should not be upset" in order for everything to be all right?"

"Of course, it is extremely easy! Exactly as easy as getting out of this damned Whatever-its-name! I love being here so much that I just do not wish to leave!" Loki snapped.

Morgan did not reply. She had no more voice to yell, apparently.

"I have never tried to manipulate you. I swear it."

"Not difficult to know. You had no use in me in Whatever-its-name."

"True."

They stayed silent for a while.

"What is the story of _The Count of Monte-Cristo_?" Loki suddenly asked.

* * *

Morgan had barely finished evoking Edmond Dantès' escape from prison than a very well-known sparkling circle appeared in front of her.

"Hi there!" Som smiled.

"How did you guess we would still be here?" Morgan interrogated.

"Easy. You love books."

Both Loki and Morgan nodded. This man was really too discerning.

"I forgot it was Sunday. I brought some beer." He added, and opened two bottles of Kingfisher, handing one to Morgan "Is Loki here?"

"He is."

"Okay."

"Why do you open a third one?"

"Why not? Symbolically."

This time, Morgan had no doubt Loki and him would befriend within thirty seconds after their first meeting. Som sat down next to her.

"To crappy white books?"

"And to crazy birthday presents."

Morgan enjoyed the taste of fresh beer. Maybe not too much since she would soon have to drive back to Oodnadatta.

"Did you know that guy with the staff?" She asked.

"Tokur? For sure. He beat the hell out of me many times when I was an apprentice. His memory surely didn't improve! That's the thing with Mystical Masters. They have such a high opinion of themselves they don't even bother to remember other names. Especially those of the ones they defeat."

"Quite true." Loki approved. Himself had made this mistake many times.

"So, may I know what this book is about? I helped you stealing it, so I think I have the right to be informed."

"Anyway, you would not have given up asking, right?"

"Absolutely."

"In a huge nutshell, it is about what the White World is. And about the Universe in its whole. Also, how the Mystical Masters were created."

Som was dumbstruck, which was a pretty legitimate reaction, to Morgan's opinion.

"Are we going to burn alive for acquiring forbidden knowledge?"

"My skin has not been consummated yet, so I think I still have some time."

"Morons." Som sighed.

"Morons?" Loki inquired.

"Idiots. Fools. Oafs." Morgan explained.

"I mean… I cannot believe it! How could they let such a precious book literally rot on this shelf!" Som lamented "Avengers, Masters of the Mystic Arts; very famous and very powerful morons."

"How come I have not met this Midgardian sooner?" Loki asked.

* * *

Obviously, they met again. And again. The Asgardian observed the intensity of the relation between Som and Morgan. If they were not so physically different, he would have assumed there were brother and sister. They behaved as such. There had been a time, long ago, where he had thought the bound between him and Thor could be as strong.

It took him time to read the Book of the Cosmic Entities. The language was so complicated that some pages were almost useless, while one or two sentences could change the whole meaning of the previous chapters.

Likewise, it took Morgan time to narrate _The Count of Monte-Cristo_ in details. The god of Mischief really appreciated the hero's patient and methodical plan for his vengeance.

Loki spent less and less time in Whatever-its-name. When he felt like it, he would practice his spells, which he managed to do effortlessly now. Being able to get his mind out had been liberating.

Morgan gave him details about her powers. Slowly. Episodically. She told him how she could influence emotions of living beings, making them calm or angry, confident or afraid. She told him how she could detect, and ultimately dissimulate, every person's psychic signature.

Both Morgan and Loki took great interest in studying each other's powers. Nevertheless, the _why_ they both resented never came. Loki never heard "Why did you attack the Earth? Why did you try to kill your brother?" and Morgan never had to answer "Why do you have such powers? Why did you murder your family?".

They just knew the timing was not right.

Loki learnt about Som as well. He and Morgan were both similar and different. He was not as found of literature as she was, but he kept talking about a concept called cinema, which also enabled to tell stories, through sounds and images. Morgan and him always communicated in English. Som could speak six languages, but he told Loki that among them were four different dialects that could only be used in specific regions of India. Besides, one of them was Indo-Pakistani Sign language. Morgan was able to sign three sentences, respectively "My name is Morgan", "I am not deaf-mute" and "I like samosa". They shared a vast range of codes. For example, when Som asked her to tell him something only herself would know, well, she would _show_ him. Showing was telling as well, but no one ever thought about it when it came to language.

One day, as Morgan and Loki were discussing with Som, at one of the designated rendezvous point around Oodnadatta, a town called Coober Pedy, (Loki noticed that she never told him her exact address), she stopped right in the middle of their conversation, as if she had suddenly turned to stone.

"Wow. You look like a suricate." Was Som's only comment.

"Don't move." She ordered.

It took Loki a few seconds to locate the snake, a few feet away, almost invisible on the ground.

"King brown." He guessed.

Morgan imperceptibly nodded, as she was very slowly walking towards it. The god of Mischief felt almost as impatient as her. It was the first time he saw her attempting to catch a venomous snake.

The king brown raised his head towards Morgan, who had come closer. Her eyes turned golden. Loki could almost read its inner battle in the snake's eyes. Should he flee or stay? It was a human, therefore a potential threat, yet it did not look threatening at all…

Still, Morgan was extremely careful. She did not come too close nor too fast and did not hesitate to stop if the reptile showed any sign of aggressiveness.

She finally managed to grab him behind its head. She caught him with a very swift movement of her hand, while the other one maintained the lower part of the body. She had not lied about being fast, Loki thought. The snake struggled a little at first, but it progressively calmed down.

"Always as impressive." Som said.

He had not moved nor spoken during the whole process. He did not seem afraid nor especially fond of snakes. Loki suddenly realized that even himself, who could not by any mean be seen by the animal, had stayed utterly still while Morgan was approaching it. He looked at her while she was settling the snake in one of the boxes, incapable of getting the two hypnotizing golden irises out of his mind.

* * *

 **The beginning of the chapter is inspired by the video "History of the entire world, I guess". If you haven't yet, I definitely advise you to watch it ^^**

 **Alright. Morgan's powers. A. Mess. To. Write. But I like challenges ^^ I especially wanted to settle a kind of "anti-intense" atmosphere, when Loki casually guesses her abilities, instead of something spectacular. Now, you know why she was able to take the wild desert death adder on her knees like a domestic cat.**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	15. It starts like a fairy tale

Morgan was meditating. At least, she was trying to.

She started this activity when she was young, on her own. She had always been very good at focusing on something. However, today seemed to be _this_ day of doubt that occurs once in a big while, making her perfectly incapable of doing anything productive at all.

"Very well." She thought "I want to doubt. Let's doubt."

She rose up from the floor of the wooden cabin, put her shoes on and took a few steps between the dunes. In the middle of April, autumn was truly here, bringing much more comfortable temperatures. No human presence was visible around her house, but there was so much life here. Snakes of course, tons of snakes, but also goannas (Australian monitor lizards), kangaroos, dingos, camels, and all kinds of annoying insects, unfortunately.

"What troubles me?" She told herself again.

The answer was painfully obvious. Since she had shown her abilities to Loki, she apprehended his reaction. And even though the least she could say was that it had not been what she expected, she could not help this irrational fear creeping back from time to time. This was strange.

She was not afraid of rejection, nor loneliness. Not anymore. She had spoken the truth, when she told him that she had no reason to see herself a monster because others said so.

Here it was. Here lied the difference.

There were others. And there was him. That every single person in the world (except Som, but Som was Som) hated her, fine, she really did not care, but if Loki hated her, looked at her with hostility and disgust…

Yes. She _cared_.

She cared about how he looked at her, how he listened to her, how he talked to her. And more.

Morgan came back to her small house, helped herself to some not yet cold mint tea and sat on the porch. She pertinently knew what this "and more" meant. Their relation was more than an alliance. They did things not because it was useful but because they liked it. They did not only work, they played. Games of magic, of wits, of stories and of snake-charming. And more.

As said before, staying focused was something Morgan excelled in. She knew how to observe. And she observed the way he observed her. He was good at illusions, both literally and figuratively, but she had more and more frequently spotted this particular light of interest in his eyes, when they were sat close to each other to study the book, when she reflected upon one of his mysterious riddles, or last time, when she caught the king brown. His gaze had changed. And hers as well.

Morgan was everything but shy. When there was beauty to admire, she admired. In both men and women. She loved the feeling of a woman's body against her, as well as a man's. Each had their own sensuality. Morgan loved knowledge, and pleasure was a knowledge.

Undeniably, she admired Loki. At first glance, she had not found him especially handsome. He was not the type of men she would suddenly want to have a brief adventure with, just to satisfy her carnal needs. Loki did not impress, he charmed. The singular and delicate combination of his features, his attitude and his manners, made him fascinating.

Loki observed her and Morgan observed him. She observed the way he opened his green eyes, the swift movement he made with his hand when he created an illusion, the way he walked, the way he smiled, or simply his calm and relaxed position when they both decided to meditate. He probably had noticed. He was very good at focusing as well.

They could not touch each other but they sometimes behaved as if they could. She wanted to know him not only mentally but also physically. This was frustrating but also exciting, in a way. Because, after all this time, there were still so many things she wanted to discover about Loki.

And yet. Yet. Doubt. This terribly pernicious doubt.

Clearly, Morgan was not like the other humans. She could know what others felt, more importantly, she could _make them_ feel what she wanted. She had indeed never attempted that with Loki because, as he said, she had no use in it. But he was in a different situation. His impossibility to interact freely with the rest of the world could modify the way he looked at her.

Morgan finished her tea. She looked at the sunset. More than eight months had passed since she settled in this house and she never got tired of it.

And it was true as well with Loki. She never got tired of him (quite the opposite, actually) and he did not seem to get tired of her. They had come to a point where, if he was dying to see some other people around, he would only have to ask her and they would go to whichever city he wanted. But he was not the kind of person who loved to be surrounded by the crowd. Loki was still hiding many things, and so was she. Talking about this attraction was probably the best way to confuse them even more, which was really not what they wanted, for Whatever-its-name was already confusing enough.

* * *

"Is this the image or the text?"

"Both. The text creates the picture. Or what is left of it…"

Morgan had to turn the Book of the Cosmic Entities many times to enable him to decipher. They had finished the overview a long time ago, and now Loki was doing a second reading of the most enigmatic or difficult passages.

"I think I understand." The Asgardian finally said "It explains how the Infinity Stones are connected to each other… The Space Stone provides the user instant access to any location throughout the universe. Space powers… Time, which, as you may have guessed, allows time travel. From what I have read about Agamotto, he probably hid it. This book is so ancient that I wonder if this Stone is still on Earth… Time allows the existence of Reality…"

"Do you know this one as well?"

"I have briefly witnessed its power, not as a stone, as a matter of fact, but as an animated liquid, which gave its host the ability to shape reality on a whim."

Loki frowned when he had to read the next scriptures.

"The Power Stone… I hesitate on the translation. As it is written, I would call it Power Stone but Energy Stone might be more accurate."

"Let me guess… Grants infinite power?"

"You would describe it as molecular fragmentation but yes, kind of infinite power." Loki grinned "Then, the Mind Stone… Again, I am uncertain of the translation, but it shapes reality through mind control… Telepathy, telekinesis… It looks a lot like this Scarlet Witch's abilities you told me about."

"Indeed. We could safely suppose that at least the Mind Stone is secured on Earth, probably along with the Time Stone, maybe still kept by the Masters of the Mystical Arts."

"Left with the Soul Stone." Loki concluded "It seems even more particular, giving control over life and… and this passage talks about a world… I really cannot… Oh, I see, a world _within_ the Stone!"

"It is not Whatever-its-name." Morgan asserted "I would have known it, for sure."

She breathed out loudly.

"Everything seems at the same time isolated and connected. Whatever-its-name, the Stones, Thanos, and we are right between them, without anyone knowing it."

"Exactly. Isn't it fascinating? Words…"

"… Are power."

As if the atmosphere was not already theatrical enough, thunder rumbled in the background. Morgan felt even more excited.

"At last…" She whispered "Rain here is as violent as heat. Australian Outback does not like to do things by half."

They left the book opened on the coffee table and stepped on the porch to admire the lighting in the horizon. At first, there were only thunderclaps. Then, shower came. Timidly at first, shamelessly at last. Morgan sat down. It had been months since she last saw rain. This summer had been especially dry. The desert zone itself, of which Oodnadatta was considered the capital, was so dangerous during summer that it was closed to travellers between December and March, to prevent tourists from perishing. Only people with alleged authorisation, like the herpetologist Elisa Anderson, could freely enter the Simpson Desert.

"You can understand why some people worshipped my brother when he just took a tour on Earth, a handful of centuries ago. And kind of worship him now as well."

"Absolutely. This is impressive. And destructive. But it is not as powerful as it looks."

Morgan noticed that Loki did not look especially surprised by her statement (he knew her too well by now) but invited her to elaborate on it.

"As you like to point out, _Homo Sapiens_ is definitely not the physically strongest being on the planet. Yet, it dominates it. Centuries ago, we prayed gods to protect us against thunderstorms. Now, we just settled a lightning rod on the roof and wonder what to cook for dinner. Humans are an impressive mix of individual and collective imagination. _That_ makes us powerful. Stories and ideas."

"I see your point." Loki smiled slyly.

"Of course, you do. You may not look as destructive as Thor but you are _so much_ more powerful than him. Imagine him stuck in Whatever-its-name!" Morgan laughed.

Loki could not help laughing as well. From what she knew about his older brother, Morgan supposed he would not have resisted more than ten seconds. At best.

"I was wrong when I said that magic was beyond your comprehension." He declared "Stories and ideas, lies and tricks… All of them are connected, all are related to the same basis. Few people are ready to consider this."

"Stopping thunder is much easier than stopping an idea." Morgan concluded.

"And you have an idea in mind right now." Loki deduced.

"I always have ideas in mind."

"An important one."

Morgan settled more comfortably against the wooden wall. The rain was steady, already forming wide puddles around the dunes. She had doubted enough, the day before. She was still unsure but the most important was that she not afraid. She cared about Loki and she cared about _herself_.

"I have a lie. A true, genuine, authentic lie to tell."

"A longer one than Edmond Dantès'?" Loki taunted.

"Ouch. Definitely not." Morgan smiled "But it is the only one I wrote."

* * *

Since every story must have its beginning, let's take the simplest beginning we can think about. Birth. Morgan Dumas was born on the tenth of March 1989, in the region of Brittany, France, one hour after her twin sister.

Her mother was a seismologist. She had travelled across the world to the riskiest areas, such as Japan, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and was considered as one of the most famous experts in the study of earthquakes. Her father was a gemmologist. He followed his wife in her travels and became very skilful at examining precious stones of all continents. These two scientists had met during their studies, each in a very prestigious engineering school, and had spent a good share of their life jumping from one country to another. They decided to have children quite late, which was unusual at the time.

They said their two daughters were fairies. They named them Vivian and Morgan.

* * *

It pretty much starts like a fairy tale, literally and figuratively, right?

But, as we know, stories are lies and lies are stories. We cannot have one without the other.

And we cannot have fairies without monsters.

* * *

"So, tell me, Morgan. How was school today?"

Morgan settled herself more comfortably in the large armchair. It was the only thing she liked during those one-hour sessions, twice a week. This recliner was almost as snug as her bed.

"It was normal. In maths, we did geometry. An equilateral triangle is a triangle in which all three sides are equal. And then, we had French class. We continued studying imperfect."

"Good. How do you feel in class? Is everything alright with the other pupils?"

Morgan was always doing her best not to laugh when the child psychiatrist was trying to look friendly. He had a big head and large front teeth. He looked like a beaver.

"Everything is normal. It was David's birthday today, so he brought chocolate cake."

The psychiatrist sighed.

"Morgan, you know you can trust me. I know this is a difficult time, and you do not have to pretend that everything is alright."

She frowned. He had not listened to her. She did not say that everything was alright, she said that everything was normal. He was a deaf beaver.

"No one is bothering me." She said.

It was true. Since they had learned that her mother had been transferred to a psychiatric hospital, teachers were actually much nicer to her. And most of the other children either did not mock her, either tried and then gave up very quickly because she scared them with her eyes.

"I am glad to hear that. I know you worry about your mother, but everything will be alright. The doctors will do all they can so that she can come back home as soon as possible."

Morgan was getting confused. He said that she did not have to pretend that everything was alright. And then, he said that everything would be alright.

Fortunately, the door bell brought the session to a close.

"Here is your father! See you on Thursday, Morgan. And happy birthday in advance! You are turning ten tomorrow, already such a grown-up girl!"

She slowly rose from the armchair.

* * *

Absolute silence in the car. As always. She tried to make the least possible noise when munching her apple.

"Did you have your school report?" He suddenly asked.

"Not yet. They said it would be on Friday." She whispered.

"I hope you have better grade than last trimester. You are not as gifted as your sister."

Morgan bitterly swallowed the rest of her fruit. She did not raise her eyes towards her father. He was not such a tall man, but his look and attitude were strict. He had dark hair and brown eyes, like her. He was always wearing glasses, and when he picked her up at the psychiatrist's, he was coming back from work, in a very formal suit.

When she arrived home, she climbed the stairs towards her room as rapidly as possible.

"Finish your homework. I have to call the hospital so do not come bothering me." Her father ordered.

She closed the door. At last. Her room was not particularly incredible, but at least she could play. And Vivian was waiting for her.

"Is he always asking those stupid questions?"

"Yes. He always says that he knows. Oh, Morgan, I _know_ how you feel, I _know_ what you think, I _know_ everything about everyone and blah blah..."

"He is an idiot. He doesn't know anything about you." Vivian chuckled.

"You're so lucky not to go. It's boring. He says I need help because of what's happening to Mom but it's Mom who needs help, not I." Morgan bitterly said.

"Can we play now? I want to play pirates!"

"Yes! And after, knights and fairies!"

Morgan rummaged in the toybox and took up some disguises, plastic swords and soft toys. She started to describe the story they were playing and Vivian listened, admiratively.

They were twins but they were _so_ different. Morgan was a little smaller than her sister, had short and curly black hair, while Vivian had long, wavy blond hair et deep blue eyes. They loved to read and to tell stories. Their grand-parents gave them immense volumes of tales. They read all of them. The tales of Perrault and Anderson, _One Thousand and One Nights_ , and, their favourite, the _Knights of the Round Table_. They loved to be the fairies helping the knights with they magic powers, saving everyone at the end.

At eight o'clock, Morgan took off her plastic helmet and went to the kitchen, to find her father waiting for her.

"Eat your dinner quickly. One of the doctors is coming this evening, so you will stay in your room. Do not sneak in the living-room like last time, is that clear?"

She nodded. Her father's gaze derived towards the open door to the living-room, where Vivian was standing.

"Why can't you be obedient like your sister..." He sighed.

He left the room without a sound. Vivian came closer, with a sorry look on her face.

"You're not hungry?" Morgan asked.

"No. I really don't know why he is like that with you..."

Morgan shrugged.

"He has always been like that. You are the prettiest, the smartest, and all."

"Don't say that. You're better than me at many things."

"Like?"

"Telling stories. You have the greatest imagination I have ever seen. Running, too. You run much faster than me. And, of course, you have fairy powers." She giggled.

"I'm sure you have fairy powers too."

"Nah. It's always you who talk to this beautiful black cat. He never lets anyone touching him except you. And you talk to birds. And squirrels. You are a real fairy."

Morgan smiled. She felt a little better. She quickly finished her plate and dashed to her bedroom, where she and Vivian continued reading the tale of _Sinbad the Sailor_. Half-an-hour later, she heard some noise downstairs.

"It's the doctor." Vivian said "Should we play investigation?"

"But I got caught last time."

"Dad just said we shouldn't enter the living-room. So, we can enter all the other rooms."

"Right."

Morgan was very careful not to make a single noise. She slowly came closer to the door, then hid behind the counter, at enough distance not to be seen while listening. Vivian was trying her best not to laugh. She loved playing investigation. Morgan listened.

"...Cannot say how long it will take. Your wife is a very intelligent and resistant woman, but going through such a painful experience... Even years after, it takes its toll on anyone..."

"How is she?"

Her father's voice was only a whisper. He sounded very sad. Morgan and Vivian stopped laughing.

"For now, her state is stable. There was also one thing I wanted to say, about your daughter Morgan."

"What is it?"

"It is not sane, to keep _this_ in your living-room. She is still young, maybe she does not really understand the impact it had on her mother. And children feel their parents' pain."

He did not reply.

"Have you talked to her about it?" The doctor added, on a worried tone.

"She understood."

"No, my question is: have you, Mr Dumas, taken the time to explain her what happened? How does she perceive her sister? Does she know what sudden infant death syndrome is?"

* * *

 **Well, well. Warning about disturbing psychological trauma, y'know...**

 **Suggested end song: Greg Laswell, _Comes and goes_.**

 **Answer to ABigSoyBoy (and Nayruh!): Thank you boiz and gurlz, your reviews are cocaine for my ego! Som rocks! But yeah, I keep him away from the Gary-Stu dimension, while still making him interesting of course. And yeah, it's going to become a huge mess, because I like to buid things to destroy them better. And I'm mentally sane. I think it's important to point this out. By the way, sorry MySoyFriend, but paragraph construction on this website is as messed up as my story... I haven't figured out how to counterattack yet. Thks again and remember, when life gives you lemons, burn life's house down, with the lemons!**

 **Thank you, tamakaru2, Team-lets-free-will, kmreece and MzAkumaGore for following my story!**


	16. The Sea-Born and the War Goddess

Did Morgan know, at age nine (more exactly, ten minus one day), what sudden infant death syndrome, or crib death, was? No, of course she did not.

What she knew was that her twin sister Vivian was with her, but also a little heap of ashes in the funerary urn standing in the living-room.

The exact cause of crib death is unknown. Vivian was born a perfectly healthy baby. One hour later, Morgan was screaming for air. Not long after, her older sister started to choke. Then, she died. As simple as that.

What Morgan knew was that her mother had always been... Not really here. She often felt her drifting. She did not know where.

The sequel of a nurseling's death is traumatizing for both parents. They are prepared to welcome twins, they chose names, they see both of them alive and healthy, and suddenly, one is gone. Maybe the most gruesome pain one can imagine.

What Morgan also knew was that her father was tolerating her. Nothing else. He always considered her as a twin, not as a single child. Vivian was always here. Or, rather, what Vivian could and should have been was always here.

Understandably, Morgan was confused.

* * *

"Happy birthday Morgan!"

Oh, how glad she was that her birthday fell on a Tuesday! If it had been on Monday or on Thursday, she would have to spent an hour with this beaver-of-a-psychiatrist and she really did not want to.

On the other hand, she was always happy to spend every other afternoon of the week at her grand-parents' place. Both of them were waiting for her at the entrance of the school, with a radiant smile on their face. Her grand-mother hugged her and her grand-father literally lifted her up in the air. Even at age eighty, he was a very tall, muscular man. He had shining blue eyes, callous and big hands, and an impressive amount of hair.

"Ten already! How strong and beautiful you are!" He exclaimed.

Morgan felt good. She loved being with her grand-parents. Everything seemed warmed and wonderful. She sometimes found it hard to believe that they had also raised the man supposed to act like a father to her.

They did not live very far from her house. Consequently, they always picked her up on Tuesday evening. She stayed the whole Wednesday at their place. Same for Friday, and she frequently stayed for the entire weekend. Absolute bliss.

Her grand-mother had made an apple cake. Morgan absolutely _loved_ all kind of cooking she prepared. She liked to cook with her. Crafting things to eat, while talking about something else... yes, she liked to cook. But only with her grand-mother.

Now, she was tearing the wrapping paper of her present. It was a very large box, and she could not feel more excited. It was a complete sailor oilskin. Pants, boots, coat and under-coat. She beamed as her grand-father proudly showed it to her.

"Time for you to be a real sailor, we took the boat out this weekend, just for you. You spend the day with us tomorrow!"

Morgan adored sailing. Especially since it was her grand-father who taught her. In the city of Brest, where both her parents and paternal grand-parents lived, taking care of a boat was not too difficult, as it was right in front of the Atlantic Ocean. During the school holidays, she would alternate between her grand-parents' place and a sailing club. This was the good thing with her father. He did not want her around, so he would send her to a sailing club, which proved to be the best holidays she could dream of.

At ten, she already knew everything there was to know about her grand-parents' boat, even though she could not yet practice the manoeuvres alone, for obvious reasons. Her grand-father told her that she had a special bound with the sea, as her first name came from Celtic words _mor_ and _gan_ and was translated by "sea-born". Therefore, when she was on a boat, Morgan never chose any nickname, as she was used to do in all kinds of plays. She loved to be Morgan the Sea-Born.

And the sea was beautiful. Brittany was the perfect place for sailing enthusiasts. It had all kinds of landscapes and all kinds of winds. When other children had a birthday party at their house, when they brought candy at school or received a mountain of presents from their family, Morgan was at sea. No party, no candy, but the biggest present of all; the freedom of the ocean.

"Great job, Morgan! You steer like a real sea dog!" Her grand-father laughed.

Morgan loved the intensity of the wind, the power of the waves, the calmness or rage of the sea in its whole. She could see birds and fishes, sometimes dolphins.

Most important, it was the only place where she never saw Vivian.

* * *

If Morgan was "sea-born", Vivian meant "burning with life". Which was quite ironical. Deep inside, Morgan knew Vivian was dead. Her parents, even herself, acted as if she was alive. But the thing was, they acted badly.

They did not consider Vivian as a child. They saw her as a perfect _thing_. Vivian had long, straight hair, when Morgan had short, tangled hair (her father never liked her hair), Vivian danced when Morgan ran, Vivian was respectful when Morgan was too curious... And there was something else she did not know. Something her parents, and even her grand-parents, never told her.

The following day, after school, Morgan was in the little garden of their house. The rain had just stopped, she and Vivian were playing hide and seek. She was hiding behind a bush when she heard a little noise next to her. She lowered her eyes.

It was a grass snake. A long, thin, green snake, slowly moving between the ferns. Morgan crouched very gently and extended her right hand towards it. The snake froze. She reassured it. And it came towards her hand.

"Found y..." Vivian said, suddenly freezing as well.

Morgan was stroking the grass snake's head now. It was the first time she was touching one. Usually, she would look for lizards during summer but snakes were nowhere to be found.

"You're not afraid?" Vivian timidly said.

"No. Why?"

"Because... It's a snake."

"So, what?"

Grass snakes were not venomous. Morgan cupped her hands and it calmly crawled on them. She was beaming. She was a real snake-charmer!

"Morgan, where are... What are you doing?!" Her father suddenly screamed, dashing towards her.

She and the grass-snake jumped with surprise. Her father pushed her aside and started stamping on the reptile.

"No!" She yelled.

But he did not care or did not hear. He continued trampling on the snake until it turned to disgusting red pulp. Morgan was crying of pain. Through her tears, she saw her father straightening up before coming closer to her. He firmly clasped her arm.

"What were you thinking?! What have we done to have such a careless daughter?! You are crying for a _snake_? You are a real little devil, you hear me? A devil!"

He dropped her and left. Morgan was shaking, tears still running down her cheeks. She felt something new in her. Something that was not very pleasant. It was not sadness nor fear, she knew those too well. It was rage.

* * *

What actually makes a person?

Is it what he does? What he looks like? What he thinks? What he wants?

Or is it his name?

Several Eskimo tribes in the Artic Circle do not consider infanticide as a crime, as long as the baby has no name.

When do we start to be someone?

* * *

In the high school courtyard, Morgan was observing. Her gaze flew from a crow in the horse chestnut to a student reading on the bench next to the tree. Her name was Claire. She had a pretty face. When she met Morgan's gaze, she blushed and smiled timidly. She smiled back and carried on walking towards the entrance of the school.

There, she met at least half of her class, all smoking or tipping on their phone.

"Hey, Morgan!" One of them called "I have my birthday party on Saturday, wanna come?"

"Sure, Xavier." She said "Who else is invited?"

"All the class! You will bring some alcohol?"

"Count on me."

She left the group. She could tell they were gossiping about here again. Not that she was bothered. On the contrary, she was quite proud of it.

Morgan Dumas had gained quite a bizarre and contradictory reputation in the school. On the one hand, she did and had everything that could be done in order to be mocked; she was among the best in her class, she had a mother in a near-coma after years in a psychiatric hospital, and she kissed boys and girls all the same. The most recent was Claire, and everyone was wondering if they had slept together. Not that Morgan would have minded, actually she was really on for it, after they kissed at David's party, but Claire was too unsure about it. Pity, but Morgan had at least the time to intrigue her, so maybe later.

Indeed, on the other hand, Morgan intrigued everyone. She did not appear as ridiculous or annoying, she was seen as mysterious. There was a common compulsive desire to discover her. Morgan smiled wryly on her way home. How easy it was, to manipulate them! How simple, to create fear, or joy, or lust, in their eyes.

Her house was only fifteen minutes away by foot from school. She and her father had moved four years ago. Gone was the garden. Morgan had learned very quickly not to become attached to things. Not to become attached in general, anyway. She had stopped seeking her father's admiration a long time ago. No matter how good she was at school, no matter how many sailing competitions she won, she never heard any compliment from him.

It seemed that Pierre Dumas was passioned by three things in his life: his crazy wife, his dead daughter and his work. Morgan rarely saw him during the week, as he would always come back late from work, then lock himself up in the little atelier he had in the house, to study his beloved gems.

"Hello." She told him.

She never called him "Dad". He raised his eyes from the book he was reading.

"Morgan, sit down."

She did. What had she done, _again_?

"I suppose you know what I am about to tell you?"

"No. But you are going to tell me." She answered placidly.

"Enough with your arrogance! Your friends' parents talk about you, and not in the best way."

She did not reply, waiting for development.

"Apparently, you are "experimenting" right now? I do not even need to know about boys, but girls as well?"

Oh. Only that. Seeing her total lack of reaction, her father heavily sighed.

"Impressive... You always find new ways to be disappointing..."

He did not add anything and resumed his reading. She left.

One taking a brief look at Morgan's life would say that she had absolutely no reason to complain. She was a good student, maybe she had no friend in high school but she was at least appreciated, and she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, so why would she complain?

Morgan never complained. It was true, she had at least the chance not to worry about having food every day and receiving a correct education. Her father was raising her the way he would honour a promise, by obligation, not by choice. She never felt the warmth of parents' love. Her grand-parents gave it to her. Paternal grand-parents, at least. She barely knew her maternal grand-parents, who lived in Nice, on the other side of France, and had chosen to disinherit their daughter when she married someone else than a member of the Southern _bourgeoisie_.

Her grand-father died the year before. At least, he died peacefully. Morgan had never cried so much in her entire life.

"But that day, he hugged you, didn't he?" Vivian asked.

Morgan sighed. Her sister was annoyingly pointing out the things she did not want to talk about.

"I know. But he was not in his usual state."

"He still hugged you. Our father hugged you."

It was at the cemetery, right after they had put her grand-father in the grave. Her father took her in his arms. His back was shaken by sobs. Morgan was so surprised that she did not know how to react. She did not feel pain, she did not feel joy. Even less love. She was as impenetrable as one of his diamonds.

"It's our birthday tomorrow." Vivian smiled "I'm so glad to tun eighteen! _Viva la mayoría_!"

Morgan was doing her best to care at least a little. That's the thing with her, people said, she cares too much about some things and cares too little about others.

"You're really gloomy today." Her sister said.

"Sure. My father hates me, I should be overflowing with joy."

"He does not _hate_ you. The way he expresses his love is hard to see."

"Easy for you to say that. You are perfect. You are adored. Oh, he would _never_ call you a devil, would he? And, of course, you have a pure heart. The kind and compassionate Vivian against the cruel and arrogant Morgan!"

"If you take it that way..." She sighed.

"Good idea, ignore me! You are so above me anyway, I don't deserve your attention!" Morgan snapped.

She ragefully threw her backpack against her bed and seized the book she was reading. _The Art of War_ , of Sun Tzu. She had found out that reading about strategy was an efficient way to calm down. Not so long ago, she had also found out that her name had a second potential meaning. It was derived from _Morrigan_ , who was a powerful sorceress and goddess of war in the Irish Celtic mythology.

Curiosity killed the cat, they say, but she was always curious. She wanted to know why things were and why people were. Hence her interest for both History and Biology. Overall, school had not been captivating. She had some nice teachers, some good moments and some interesting subjects. But most of it was about learning notions by heart and doing things without asking questions. Morgan wanted to ask questions. But the only questions she heard now were the traditional "what are you going to do next year?". Only this curiosity seemed to be allowed.

She had always known she was different, and she had soon understood that she could never explain it to anyone.

* * *

 **Suggested end song:** _ **Lemon Tree**_ **,** **Fools Garden.**


	17. When the rage roars

Morgan's vision was blurry. She recognized the ceiling of the house and the pieces of the puzzle came together. It was Sunday morning. She had turned eighteen not so long ago and so did Xavier, who was now sleeping next to her, in his room. She had to admit, he was very good looking, especially without his clothes. Not very experienced though, but neither was she, so she did not mind. The party on the evening before had been what she expected of a party. She hated the smell of cigarette and hated to get completely wasted, but she just drank enough to forget about these minor details. She did not need alcohol to say what she wanted in bed. Quite simply, she wanted to have fun and pleasure. Some people, especially men, took it too seriously.

Of course, her father was going to despise her even more, but she had stopped caring anyway. Xavier muttered something like that was cool I call you back, she did not know exactly, and she tranquilly headed home.

When she opened the door, she was struck by the smell. She had spent enough time surrounded by different weird mixes of alcohol to spot it right away. She stepped into the kitchen.

Her father was a mess, to say the least. She had never seen him like this. He wore a simple and dirty tee-shirt, but he still had his formal pants and shoes on. His glasses were on the floor, next to an empty bottle of whisky.

Morgan frowned. Her father was not an alcoholic, so whatever he learnt must have been really bad.

"Hello." She said, crouching next to him.

He did not react. She leaned on the wall as well.

"It is about Mom, isn't it?"

"They said she did another crisis. They put her on drugs." He whispered "Her brain is damaged. She didn't recognize me. Oh shit, she didn't recognize me. She didn't..."

He leaned over his daughter's shoulder to cry. He is stinking, Morgan thought. She remained still. Second time in her life her father was hugging her. And he was drunk. He suddenly looked at her and Morgan saw confusion in his eyes.

"Who are you?" He asked "Where is my daughter?"

"I am here." Morgan answered, uncertain of whether or not she should call an ambulance.

"No... No, you're not my daughter. Where is she? Where is Vivian?"

Morgan felt a wave of disgust. Again. And again.

"What have you done to her? Where have you put my daughter?" He frantically kept asking.

* * *

"Sadness, sweetheart. So much sadness." Her grand-mother said.

"It is not sadness. He hates me."

The comfortable and reassuring atmosphere of her grand-parents' house was more and more difficult to find. Her grand-mother had been devastated by her husband's death. She had difficulties walking now. And yet, she was always as kind as ever with Morgan. They still cooked together, played cards together, endlessly discussed about every possible subject together. She taught her how to drive and planned to give her the car she rarely used now. She had been a mother to her, and Morgan knew this mother was also beginning to drift away.

"He does not hate you."

"I only see, hear, and feel hate. I know that there is something he has always hidden from me, and he hates me for that."

Her grand-mother did not answer. Morgan's tone became severe.

"And you know it."

"Morgan, this will not arrange anything..."

"Tell me."

This was not a request. This was an order.

Morgan studied her powers a lot. She could detect lifeforms as well as perceive and influence emotions. And people would always tell her what she wanted to know.

"Tell me why my father hates me." She repeated.

She knew her eyes had turned golden. They did each time she experimented a strong emotion, be it joy, sadness or anger. And now, she was forcing the truth out of the only person she still cared about. The need to know was too important.

"You... You know, the day that you were born, your sister died. But she... She died when... When _you_ took your first breadth."

"Oh, so you are the one who killed me?" Vivian bitterly said.

"There is something else." Morgan guessed.

"Sweetheart, listen... It won't ever..."

"Tell me."

Her grand-mother was crying.

"He was in pain. He was in such pain, you know... He was never like that before."

"Tell me."

"He tried..."

Morgan seemed to listen through cotton. She felt disconnected.

"He tried to kill me?" She muttered.

"He tried... Once, he was alone with you... He tried to suffocate you. But... You cried. And he was suddenly so afraid... He realized how horrible it..."

No, Morgan thought, he did not realize anything. She had defended herself, that was all. Her primal instinct had awakened something in her.

"We were the only ones knowing it... Morgan, you cannot imagine how terrible he felt..."

"You left him with me." She said "He tried to kill me and you let him raise me anyway."

"He was not in possession of his own mind."

Morgan did not reply. Suddenly, she was dreading one more minute in this house. Everything was wrong. She was burning.

"Can't you try to understand?" Vivian accused.

"I can't... I can't understand." Morgan muttered.

She left. And the rage roared.

* * *

A few weeks later, at the end of April, Morgan was driving to the South of Brittany. It was raining. It was the second time she took this road alone, furthermore with her grand-father's car. The hospital parking was almost empty. It did not take her much time to arrive in her mother's room.

She had very few good memories of her mother. She had never been aggressive like her father, but always half-asleep. Somewhere else. Her gaze would often drift towards the funeral urn in the living room.

Louise Dumas had been a brilliant engineer in seismology. How strange, that she had ended up to a hospital bed, not knowing why and where. Morgan sat next to her. She hated that room. She hated that hospital. She hated to see _anyone_ , not only the person that should have been her mother, made half-unconscious by sleeping drugs.

"Hello."

She could not call her "Mom" either. She did not answer. Her blue eyes were unable to fix anything more than two seconds.

"It's me, Morgan."

No answer either.

"Your daughter."

Slight twitch of the mouth. Morgan came closer, listening the very tiny whisper.

"Where?" Louise Dumas asked.

"I am here. I am your daughter."

They stared at each other for a while. Eyes widening. Another twitch.

" _No_."

Morgan laid back on the chair. She breathed heavily. At last, she could be certain. There was no love for her in what was left of her mother's sanity. She stayed a long time like this. What to expect, now? What to do? She had nothing. Truly nothing.

 _Her brain is damaged._

She would die in that state. Almost mute, with inconstant eyes, perhaps foam in her mouth. Pitiful. Pathetic. Morgan saw the two blue eyes fixing her. There was fear in them. Then, everything happened like in a dream. She saw herself slowly standing and leaning above her mother's head. She saw her golden eyes. And she heard her enraged voice whispering at her ear;

"I am the one who killed your daughter."

Then, she sent a blast of all the fear she was able to create in the already weakened body. The eyes revulsed, the monitors emitted signals of alarm. Two seconds later, a steady sound.

No turning back, now.

* * *

Incredibly quick, how she found herself home again. A cardiac arrest was absolutely no surprise for the doctors. They had all been very sympathetic with Morgan. They had called his father. He came, stayed alone in the room for the whole time. She took care of the procedure to remove the body.

She was sitting at the dinner table, in front of her father. Both of them said nothing.

"I should have been there." He said.

"You said she did not recognize you anymore."

"She would have. She would have."

He has cried so much that his eyes were red. It reminded Morgan of the mash he had mercilessly turned the grass-snake into.

"I know." She suddenly said.

"What do you know?"

"Everything. About you. And her. And me. Both of you always wanted me dead."

Her eyes were bright with rage, not difficult to know. She felt like inhaling fire.

"It is unfair." Her father moaned "It should have been you. You ruined everything."

"Yet, still, I live. No thanks to you."

"I wished I had the courage to kill you." He whispered.

"You cannot. You are weak." She hissed "Tell me how it happened. How my mother lost her mind. She had _something_ even before I was born."

Her father hesitated. But he could not do anything else than answering Morgan's order.

"I don't know. I don't know what happened. She told me she had detected some weird vibrations or I don't know what in the middle of Brittany. It's... it's completely impossible... But she looked normal when she came back. You... You are the one who changed her."

Morgan saw that he really did not know. Very well, she would have to look for answers on her own. Not to honour her mother's memory, of course, but for herself. There was something, at a precise moment, that came to her when she was still an unborn child, and she had to find out what it was.

She asked her father the exact location of the place. He told her. And she burst into laughter.

"Oh, how ironical!" She said "This is _so_ funny, you know!"

Her father looked at her in complete horror.

"You are..."

"The wrong twin. The devil. The sea-born. The war goddess." Morgan slowly enumerated "But, you know what? I am your child."

Every fibre of her being was hating him. And she was making sure that every fibre of _his_ being hated himself. She just needed some convincing sentences, and it was not hard to find.

"Oh, nothing else hurts more than the truth, right, _Dad_? Your daughter Vivian is dead. No matter what you pretend, she will never come back. She is nothing but ashes."

"Are you sure?" Vivian asked.

"I am the only daughter you have, now. I have ruined your life. A little snake-talking devil."

Her father tried to move but he was paralyzed. Paralyzed by fear. Morgan continued.

"And you know what? _This is all your fault_." She hissed "You should have killed me. But you could not. Because of _you_ , your daughter died. Because of _you_ , your wife died."

"No..." He whimpered "I did not... I wanted to..."

"You destroyed your family. You brought up a monster. The real monster is _you_."

He hid his face in his hands, to escape Morgan's eyes. He was weeping, trembling, _begging_. Yes, her father was begging for this torture to stop.

Morgan waited. She let rage do the rest. At one point, she calmly headed back into her room. She had recently started to read books in English, instead of French translation. She opened the first page of _The Old Man and the Sea_.

"What have you done?" Vivian weakly muttered.

"Silence. You are dead. I killed you, remember? And I can kill you again."

Silence, then. She felt numb. But numb in a good way. Nothing bothered her, nothing oppressed her. This quiet atmosphere was delicious. She read for a long time.

Then, the sun rose. Morgan thought that she might as well go take a look.

Nothing in his room, nor in the kitchen, nor in the dining-room. Oh, right, he was in his atelier. Gems always reassured him, she thought.

He really was dreadful to look at. His face had turned completely purple. Morgan wondered where he had learnt to make a perfect hanged node.

She took her phone and calmly called an ambulance.

* * *

 **Family issues at their finest.**

 ** _Game of Thrones_ fans (hi Nayruh!) have probably thought about this EPIC scene ("I am your son. I have always been your son", bang, crossbow), so the end song would definitely be _Light of the Seven_ , my favourite one from this show.**


	18. More than a hunger

On the thirteenth of July 2007, Morgan was walking in the Paimpont forest, right in the middle of Brittany. It was hot, but she had always been resistant to high temperatures. Perhaps the rough winds of the ocean had strengthened her. There was almost no one around. She did not know what she expected to find.

Her grand-mother had died two weeks ago. Morgan had become very experienced in organizing funerals. She was glad, though. Everyone who knew her intimately was dead. She had no more bonds. It was funny, how shocked all the high school was, after hearing of both her parents' death on the very same day. Some had even tried to comfort her. Very badly, but at least the intention was there. A cardiac arrest and a suicide. Everyone _understood_. Everyone pitied her. And she was still burning.

So, she had stayed with her grand-mother. Although she almost never talked to her during her final months in high school, she had no implication whatsoever in her death. The woman had just given up. Morgan was not despising her for that. Everyone could choose the death they wanted, be it hanging or starvation. No, she despised her for her cowardice. Both her grand-parents, the ones she had so much admired, had let her suffer with the man who attempted to kill her.

Alright, what was done was done. No more revenge. Now was the time to do what she wanted. Because, in the end, nothing made sense in life. There was just life. So, she might as well live.

The other name of the Paimpont forest was Broceliande. Well, at least that was what people pretended. Stories, as always. Here had lived Morgan and Vivian, the fays of Arthurian legends, helping or opposing the heroes of _The Knights of the Round Table_. Strangely enough, despite not living far from it, Morgan had never been there before.

She took her time to visit but did not find anything particular. What her mother discovered seemed to have either died with her or was gone somewhere else. Morgan sighed. She could not deny that she was a little disappointed. But, at least, it gave her an additional reason to leave.

The day before, she had burnt all her administrative papers. Her passport, her identity card, even her driving license. Then, she had closed the door of her grand-parents' house (which was now her house, by the way), never to come back again. She had not taken many things with her. As always, no attachment or whatsoever. Some books, perhaps. She was now reading _Huckleberry Finn_. She should take a trip around the Mississippi someday.

She took off the lid of the little plastic box, the funerary urn was far too annoying to carry, then poured the ashes in the lake she was facing. There. She could at least be Vivian the Lady of the Lake. And be truly dead.

* * *

Some would say that it was the end of Morgan Dumas' story. It is partially true, that is to say only if a name makes a someone.

As you may have guessed, it was not. First, it was the beginning of other stories. Isabella, who worked in Spain then across South America, had a strong Chilean accent and was very skilful at translation from French or English to Spanish. Thelma was the one who decided to take a road-trip across the United States, working in different farms, and always impressing people with the way she tamed horses, and even birds. Not long after, Joan wandered a little in Canada, then in some transatlantic organisations. Ellen resolved to pass by England, where she met an Indian person whose story deserves to be told as well. Catherine worked in the already known Avalon Estate Agency, based in Mumbai, India. There were also some other names, who disappeared as soon as they appeared.

Morgan had become extremely good at hiding, from the material as well as from the psychic world. Her power made things easy for her to learn. Curiosity was not a danger anymore.

Second, there was another time Morgan suddenly came back. Well, not really. Because talking about time is tedious. She did not really "come back" either because, technically, she had never been there before. It really is to mess to explain.

Whatever.

* * *

She had no idea of what was going on. She really thought that this should have been the end.

She clearly remembered the fangs of the snake in her upper arm, then the sharp pain, her heart speeding up, the suffocation and the loss of consciousness. Next, she was here.

Morgan firstly looked at her left arm. She saw no trace of snakebite or whatsoever. Then, she looked around. She was surrounded by white. No lifeform, no landscape, only white. No sound, either. Only whiteness and silence.

By now, that part of the story is well-known. Whatever-its-name has no match in terms of steady and more than effective psychological suffering. Even a god who has lived more than a thousand years, or an extremely powerful soul-bender, could not stand its torture.

At first, Morgan tried to resist with all her might. She tried to look for every possible way out, she tried to look for any other living being, but nothing proved successful. She had no way of getting out. At all. For the first time of her life, she knew what true fear was.

Absence of Time. Absence of Space. The more notions she realized, the more panic grew in her. She fought intensively, focusing, thinking. But there was nothing she could focus on, nor think about.

Ultimately, she gave up. Rage, despair, madness. And, at this very moment, she heard a voice. But it was no stranger's voice.

"Finally, I meet you, my child."

Morgan slowly rose her head towards the woman.

"Mom?"

Louise Dumas was beautiful. Morgan had seen photos of her when she was... When she had not turned crazy. She had long, blond hair, an oval, harmonious face. She was the same height than Morgan, thin, but shining with an immense inner strength.

Morgan staggered towards her, tears still running down her cheeks. She threw herself in her arms. She was real. Her mother was real. She could feel the warmth of her skin, hear her heartbeat, and at last, at last, experience this love she had missed so much!

"Oh, Mom... I am sorry." She sobbed "I was lost. There was only rage in me."

Her mother's hand gently stroked her head. Morgan held her tighter. She would never let her go.

"I am dead, am I?" She whispered.

"Dead? Oh no, my child, you are not dead."

Morgan choked with surprise.

"Wh-what? B-but I... I waited. And waited. This place... This place is terrible. I don't want to stay, Mom! P-please get me out of here!"

"Do not worry, my child. We will get out. Together. And nothing will ever threaten us anymore."

Morgan suddenly felt something. Doubt. This old reflex. This arrogant little devil, always asking questions...

"What is this place?"

"This is a place for the lost souls, my child. Come with me. I can show you the way out."

Morgan froze. Something was not right.

Actually, everything was not right. Why was her mother here? Why did she say that she was not dead? And, there was something else... Something that seemed really ridiculous in comparison but alerted her more than everything else.

All words count. Words are power.

"Why do you call me your child? You never did."

Louise Dumas looked at her with incomprehension.

"You always called me your daughter. Because your child implied that I was your only child. You could not stop thinking about my sister."

Her mother smiled. She seemed proud. _Satisfied_.

"Oh, my child. You are much stronger than you look."

"You are not my mother."

"I am your mother. I am the one who created you. I just took the appearance of the mortal who bore you because this is the figure you would associate with me."

Morgan felt a gaping fear running down her spine. These two sentences had revealed more to her than she could ever imagine.

"Who are you?" She whispered.

"I am one of the six."

"What does it mean?"

"I am power. Do not you want to be powerful?"

Morgan did not respond. She kept looking at her with more and more defiance.

"Humans are so strange. They want power but they are afraid of it. Their soul is so complex."

"Humans? Their soul? I want a more developed answer!" Morgan ordered "Tell me who you are!"

Louise Dumas showed no sign of aggressiveness.

"I am creation itself. I am the very soul of everything. Some say I am just a stone, and that I am limited to my physical form. But I have no boundaries. Nor Time, nor Reality, nor the entire Universe are limits, to me."

Morgan was afraid. More than afraid. Terrified. She knew that she was facing something beyond her comprehension.

"How did you create me? What do you intend to do with me?" She questioned.

"You are my child. I bore you so that you can bear me. Take my power. Take it and give me the souls I crave, my child."

"You _crave_? You are hungry?"

"It is more than a hunger."

"Wh-what do you mean, bear you? Is this why you created me? To be your host?"

"You are a good creation. Most of them failed. But you grew up, stronger. You can be more than powerful. Your knowledge can expand indefinitely."

The last pieces of the puzzle finally connected together.

"I cannot get out of here on my own." Morgan admitted "I need you. And you have to find a physical host. You need me. Will you satisfy your hunger, once you are on Earth?"

"As I said, it is more than a hunger."

Morgan breathed heavily. She could not win this fight. Even if she wanted to discover anything else, she could not know even understand the explanations of this... Stone. All came to a simple deal, then. Power against soul.

"In both cases, I lose." Morgan said "Either I die, either I eternally suffer."

No sign of emotion from her "mother". Of course. It wanted souls. It cared very little about her.

It cared very little...

"Very well." She declared "Come. Give me your powers. Bring me knowledge."

Louise Dumas came forward and clasped her hands.

"Yes, my child. And you, bring me your soul."

Instinctively, Morgan knew what to do. Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

"No. I take your powers. And I keep my soul. You _know_ so many things, but only things that _make sense_. Names do not make sense. You cannot control me if you do not know me. You do not know my name."

And she opened her eyes.

* * *

This was as far as Morgan could go. It is not such a bad end, for a story. Starting with a birth, ending with a death. Or, maybe a re-birth.

Only the listener will decide.

And Loki had listened to every word. Now, he knew the entire story of Morgan Dumas.

* * *

 **Suggested end song:** _ **Do you feel it?**_ **Chaos Chaos.**


	19. Proper madness

Loki always had something to say, even when he did not know what to say. However, at this moment, he could not bring himself to speak.

The rain had stopped a long time ago. The landscape had turned from an arid desert to a swamp. A rainbow was forming, reminding him of the tale of the Rainbow Serpent.

Loki had answers, now. How similar and yet so different he and Morgan were! Contrary to him, she never had any hope to conquer her parents' love. They even proved to be her greatest enemies. Victims actually seemed more accurate. She had tortured them, she had driven them mad with grief and despair.

No one is born a monster, as the saying goes, but Loki saw why it was so hard for her to believe it. Her very first act, as a new-born child, had been to take the life of her sister, to strengthen hers.

Yet, in her actions, he saw his. She had been lied to. She had been despised. She had been enraged. Was it the same Morgan, who was still leaning on the wooden porch, eyes closed, that the one who poured poison in her father's ear? No, of course not, and neither was he the same Loki who ran head-on to dominate the Earth and kill his brother.

And, most of all, he finally knew about what happened to her in Whatever-its-name. The Soul Stone. He already knew it from the Book of the Cosmic Entities, but this one was standing apart from the other five. It was sentient. It had _desires_.

"I am impressed." He finally said.

"By what?" Morgan hesitantly answered.

"You literally tricked an Infinity Stone. I have to add _this_ to my to-do list."

No sarcasm here. He was truly impressed. Not only by that. Morgan impressed him. Partially because she could manipulate souls, but this was almost a minor detail, to him. She impressed him because she was a skilful snake-catcher, because she was a talented teller, and because of this uncanny empathy that made her caring about things people usually did not even consider. She was both calm and witty, both strategic and unpredictable. All of this, he had come to realize when they were just discussing in Whatever-its-name and on Midgard, when she had no use in her powers.

"For a long time, I always thought that my father was the worst I could possibly imagine, but now I have heard of a sizeable challenger." He said.

"I bet you have." Morgan chuckled "Even now, after all these years, I wonder if I would have been able to forgive him. I know he loved my mother deeply. Grief has blinded him; the same way rage has blinded me. Maybe, in another lifetime, we would have understood each other."

Loki sighed. It brought recent memories back.

"I also thought I could never forgive my father, or even consider him as such."

"And yet."

"And yet."

Loki suddenly realized how close they were. Physically. But no, he was not _really_ here, his body was still trapped, and when he came back to it, it was Morgan who was only a projection.

She also impressed him because she was beautiful. Morgan was not corresponding to the very idea he had of beauty itself. And yet, he could not help admiring the changing eyes that annoyed him so much at first, the dark hair she liked to keep short, and her small but agile silhouette that proved to be indeed so fast. The way she moved, talked, smiled, all of this made her beautiful.

Painful pang of regret. He thought that he would have gotten used to it, but he realized that evidently, the more he appreciated Morgan, the hardest it was to know that he ultimately remained alone.

"I feel like it is perhaps not the time for another session of telling each other how miserable our childhood was." Morgan guessed.

"Miserable? Come on, you could escape at sea. I doubt Morgan the Sea-Born is miserable on a boat." Loki teased.

"You have not seen anything yet." She smiled proudly "And you, from what I know, learnt magic. Dare telling me that this was a miserable thing to do."

"I would dare telling you how I tried to turn into a fox for the first time and the result was growing only a tail and whiskers. I was seven."

"This is brilliant." She laughed "At the same age, I found myself dragged by a sailing dinghy because my foot was stuck in one of its ropes. It was like reverse water-skiing."

"I am picturing the situation right now."

They were both shaken by uncontrollable laughter. Impressive, how quickly the tension could be alleviated now.

* * *

Morgan could not sleep. It was rare enough to be noted, as she always had the very useful ability to fall asleep in a second and in basically every place that permitted it.

She was thinking about the Soul Stone. It had shaped her life, for the best and the worst. Without it, she would never have killed Vivian. Without it, she would never have met Loki. Evidently, at that time, she did not know anything about the Infinity Stones, and its enigmatic expressions gave her very few clues about what and where they were.

When she got out of Whatever-its-name, Morgan had firstly panicked beyond reason. Then, she did what she always did. She observed. She questioned. She did many researches in astrophysics and came to suppose, for a time, that it was the inside of a black hole. After all, no one really knew what was in there. But black holes were still a part of the Universe.

Morgan had never met the Stone again. It was true, she had changed after their encounter, hence her capability to access Whatever-its-name, but also to create shockwaves that could render temporarily unconscious. However, it was not without danger for herself. The side-effects of coming out of Whatever-its-name were annoying at best, but she remembered very well the blistering migraine she had when she knocked the six Masters of the Mystic Arts down in Kathmandu. She had no structure designed to feed on souls, thus damaging them damaged her human body.

Those words stayed stuck in her head.

The Soul Stone's powers damaged her human body.

"I am insane." She slowly muttered "But this might work."

* * *

When she appeared in front of him, the god of Mischief saw that she had something important to tell, so he immediately let go of his appearance.

"Som does not have such long hair." Morgan told him "And you forgot the little scar on his chin."

"Noted. I see you are preoccupied."

"You can say that again. I hate to rush or to make false assumptions, but... I may have found a way to get you out."

His breath stopped. Morgan had never told him that. She was always picking her words carefully, even when she evoked the Book of the Cosmic Entities, which proved to be extremely useful indeed.

"It would never have been possible before. It will sound crazy."

"Crazier than "let's fuse our minds" or "let's steal a book from the mages of Earth"? I doubt that." He smiled nervously (because he knew that it would indeed be crazier).

"Way crazier. We might both die."

"At least, that is straightforward. What is you plan?"

"You see, when I use the power conferred by the Soul Stone, I mean, the one I was not born with, it weakens me. I am not made to transfer my soul to Whatever-its-name, neither am I to send soul-damaging blasts."

"I indeed noticed that when we were in the Library."

"I think that if I stole power, I might also transfer it. To a being whose body is resistant enough to survive Whatever-its-name. And whose soul is already connected to mine."

The silence was all the more meaningful.

"This is proper madness." Loki finally said.

"Absolutely. But everything we did until now has been nothing but madness."

"Not this kind. You are risking your life."

"So are you."

"You know what I mean. We are risking _both_ our lives to get _me_ out."

Morgan sat down. She breathed out, trying to relax. Loki had never seen her so stressed. He sat next to her.

"Am I afraid of doing that? Definitely. But... You cannot stay like that, and I cannot stay like that."

"Technically, you can." He objected.

"You know what I mean." She smiled "I do not _want_ to stay like that."

She paused. The familiar golden colour shone in her eyes again.

"I want you. And I feel that you want me too."

He wanted her. No doubt about that. And she wanted him. He got his head closer and slowly put his lips where hers were. Morgan copied his movement. Neither of them could feel anything, they could just imagine it. Only remained the illusion. At least, it was a perfect illusion.

Morgan reluctantly broke their intangible kiss.

"Let's get out of here."

"Gladly."

They rose up, not really knowing what to add. Loki thought that getting out of Whatever-its-name alive was now more than an obligation.

"How will you proceed to transfer me some of your power?"

"I have no idea." She shrugged "Contrary to yours, my abilities are not very spectacular. Save for the eye-changing thing. I guess if I just want it to happen, it will happen."

Nevertheless, she placed her hands on both sides of Loki's head. Her eyes were so brilliant that they became almost white.

"Ready?"

"Go ahead."

Suddenly, he saw a flash of light. _Blue light_. It was not...

Memories. A fall. A scream. Pain. Fear. And rage. Burning rage. Blue light and burning rage.

"Stop..." He muttered "STOP!"

He found himself back in Whatever-its-name. Morgan had not moved, but her eyes had come back to their brown tone and she had withdrawn her hands from his temples. He realized that his hands were trembling.

Morgan did not ask any question, noting that Loki needed some time to catch up a normal breath. The Asgardian gradually calmed down.

"Alright, this definitely did not work." She noted.

"This is me." Loki finally said "I rejected your intrusion."

He was furious against himself. He had repulsed Morgan's power with all his might. Why? When he _finally_ had an opportunity to get out, he countered it! What was wrong with him?

"Did it remind you of something?" Morgan cautiously suggested.

"I think so. It was... blurry. I remember a blue light and..."

Oh. He saw.

"And I do not have a very good experience with mind controlling."

* * *

 **Answer to HumongousSoyBoy: First off, I look forward to your next review just to see which name you'll take ^^ Well, glad you liked the end of Morgan's backstory. Even though she is not inherently nice, she came close to the point where she could be hating everyone and everything, as you said, but then turned out to learn and grow, thus to care more about other people, have empathy, make friends and so on and so forth.**

 **They was some confusion about the Soul Stone in the previous chapter, which presented itself with "I am power". So, it's NOT the Power Stone, it's rather the Soul Stone saying "I am the very core of the Universe, I am almighty, and stuff."**

 **By the way, regarding what DearSoyBoy said about an other chapter, I just clarify that when Morgan tells Loki "You may not look as destructive as Thor, but you are so much more powerful than him", she is not talking about physical strength (in a fight, Thor is clearly more powerful than Loki, the question doesn't even need to be asked), she is rather talking about her own definition of power (for Morgan, being powerful is basically finding a solution to any potential danger). Next chapters much more based on Loki though. Thank you very much for your review!**


	20. Stop listening

One of the most dreadful things to admit for humanity was the Evolution Theory.

At first glance, Charles Darwin seems much easier to understand than Albert Einstein and Werner Heisenberg, who respectively affirmed, through the Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics, that space and time can be deformed, and that something can come out of nothing.

In a nutshell, the Evolution Theory explains the survival of the fittest, which is, well, a pretty simple idea. But this pretty simple idea was like a hydrogen bomb dropped right in the face of humanity's dearest conviction.

The soul.

Many believe that each human being possesses an individual essence that stays the same throughout his life and even after death. "Individual" literally means "something that cannot be divided". An individual is seen as a holistic entity. However, our body, personality, relations and desires always evolve. The soul is seen as the only part of the human being that is not supposed to evolve.

The Evolution Theory rejects the idea that an individual has an indivisible, and potentially eternal, essence. Every biological entity is made of smaller and simpler pieces that constantly unite and divide. Evolution relies on change, thus in that perspective, DNA is the closest we can get to a human being's essence.

So, what should be said about the soul?

I, Morgan, have two potential answers.

The first answer is that the soul is real, but its definition is incorrect. Overall, the soul has been described as something indivisible, resistant to change and potentially eternal. But why should not the soul be entirely different? Is it possible to build a human soul, the exact same way it is very possible to build a human body?

I like this theory. As I said, it is only a theory, and it is most likely to stay one. For evident reasons, no research has ever been done about it.

I would say that the second answer is much more twisted and, to an extent, enjoyable. The soul is an idea. Nothing more. Such a powerful idea that it becomes impossible for us to live without it. Death has always been humanity's greatest fear. So, something was needed to counterbalance that fear. Something more powerful than death.

I am perfectly incapable of determining the nature of the soul. But at least, I came to be sure of one thing.

Ideas are more powerful than death.

* * *

"You evoked a blue light... Was it the Space Stone? Maybe the power of its "sister", if I may say, has triggered something in you." Morgan suggested.

"It was not the Space Stone." Loki assured.

He felt discouraged. Even more, he was dreading another attempt. He closed his eyes and forced himself to visualize the terrifying memories he brought back. They were buried deep inside his mind.

"It was the sceptre."

Morgan seemed confused, for a moment. Then, she suddenly recalled something.

"The one you owned when you came to Earth? The shining blue sceptre you had in Germany?"

"Yes. How do you know this so well?"

"There were footages of you destroying cars and saying some things about freedom to random pedestrians."

Morgan had spoken very casually. As always, she cared and did not care. She cared about the fact that it was him who had done it and was also here right now, but she did not care because it happened. Past tense. Hence her usual detached attitude about people in general. Only the ones she saw right in front of her at a given moment mattered. Loki knew it was due to her powers. She saw life in its purest form. Nothing less, nothing more.

"Then, I presume the sceptre had other powers than Eldritch rays?" She added.

Everything that had always seemed so blurry to Loki was so clear now. Mind controlling. And a reaction to the power of its sister.

He had the Mind Stone with him all this time.

"Oh, they really did a marvellous job..." He sniggered.

Morgan seemed to be doing her best not to ask him what in the Whatever-its-name he was talking about. She was handling it pretty well.

"The same way I have both been the wielder and the victim of the Space Stone, I have both been the wielder and the victim of the Mind Stone. Without even knowing it. This is brilliant. And incredibly pathetic."

He really could not stop laughing. He was disgusted.

"Anytime I thought I was in control, there was always _something_ proving me the contrary. Truly brilliant."

"Stop right there." Morgan immediately interrupted.

"What do you mean?" He frowned.

"There is a poisonous idea in your head and it would be for the best not to let it grow. Otherwise, I might have to tell you the recipe of traditional Breton _kouign-amann_ and no one wants that."

"Do not ever pretend that you are saner than me." Loki smiled.

"I would never dare." She laughed.

But she was worried. He sighed. He was worried too. And afraid. But not confronting his fear was letting it win.

"You chose your words well. It is a very poisonous idea."

* * *

Ideas cannot be destroyed by thunder. Ideas can only be destroyed by other ideas.

This idea was a very ancient one. Thus, a very strong one.

It all started with a name. Alright, more of a nickname, if you prefer. Who the first had called him god of Mischief, by the way? He did not remember.

Anyway, he did not really mind, at least at the beginning. He was even quite proud, being the unpredictable trickster, the annoying and yet ambiguous brother. Everyone in the realm of Asgard admired Thor, the archetype of brave and powerful young heroes from ancient tales and legends. "Thor Odinson has the makings of a king" was one of the most heard sentences in the court. Loki could not deny it. His older brother was tall, strong, charismatic, and a hothead. And he was overwhelmingly praised for that. Too much praised.

Loki, however, was the exact opposite. He was smaller, quieter, and most of all, hard to describe. Was he ill-intentioned? Was he an unmatched strategist? Was he only having fun? All these assumptions were true, yet he had never clearly answered any of them, delighted to see how frustrated people were not to define him precisely. Many sneered because he was undeniably less remarkable than Thor, with only daggers in front of the powerful Mjolnir, a hammer controlling thunder itself. And yet, the same many were speechless when presented with his magical skills.

Despite having been jealous of his perfect brother, Loki had always liked the way he lived. His father would always favour Thor? Fine, then he would show him how he could be worthy of his admiration, in his own way. Loki had never wanted to be like the god of Thunder. The problem with Thor was that he wanted his brother to be more like himself. He was so patronizing, sometimes. Most of the time. Often. Thus, Loki had been more than happy to ruin this selfish oaf's coronation.

So far, everything had seemed to go according to plan; enhancing Thor's recklessness had been far too easy than he ever imagined, proof that he was definitely not fit to rule. All these decades spent hearing only acclaims and esteem had made him unconscious. Yet, something happened that even the unpredictable trickster could not imagine.

Blue skin. No burn, not even pain, only this wrong colour on his arm, when a Frost Giant had grabbed it, during their raid on Jotunheim. The idea had immediately emerged.

Later, when Loki seized the Casket of Ancient Winters, the most precious relic of the Frost Giants, the idea had nibbled every corner of his mind.

"Am I cursed?"

"No."

"What am I?"

"You are my son." His father calmly answered.

"What more than that?"

The simple touch of the Casket should have burnt his skin. Instead, his hands, his arms, then his entire body, had turned blue.

Odin's reluctant explanation did not matter. The idea had ensnared his very first question.

 _What_ am I?

No more _who_.

No more trickster, only a monster. No more ambiguous prince, only a very recognizable Frost Giant, that everybody knew how to hate. Well enough for him to be driven by his rage.

Rage seemed good, at first. It gave him power, which was what a king should have. But it was a poisonous power, the kind that made him want to annihilate the entire realm of Jotunheim and to murder his brother in cold-blood. He had no intention to ridicule him, that day. He truly wanted him at his feet.

In the aftermath, rage appeared as his only way to survive. When Loki was drifting across the Universe, after his fall from the Bifrost, rage gave him a purpose. He was more determined than ever to take his revenge. Maybe it was rage which guided him towards Thanos.

"You crave vengeance." The voice said.

He was not able to tell whose voice it was. The only thing he saw was a dim blue light. He tried to concentrate on where he was and who was talking to him, but images immediately assaulted him.

Blue skin. The battle on the bridge. His brother's fury. His father's deception. And his infinite fall.

At first, he tried to block them. These memories sprung up before his eyes without his consent.

"You are a strong being." The voice spoke again "We can make you even stronger."

Other flashes and images. All of them inspired him disgust and resentment.

 _So, I am no more than another stolen relic, locked up here, until you might have use in me?_

"Look. They have manipulated you. They have lied to you."

 _Because I... I am the monster parents tell their children about at night?_

"Doesn't it make you feel angry? Wouldn't you like to make them suffer as much as they have made you suffer?"

Yes, how much he wanted that. They would pay. The blue light intensified. A very tiny whisper in him told that it was wrong, that he should extinguish it, but Loki refused to listen.

The light was as blue as his skin. He loathed it with every fibre of his being.

"We can give you the vengeance you crave." The voice continued.

Perfect. Vengeance was the only thing that mattered.

"They all have forgotten about you. But you will rise from the dead and show them what real power is."

He would. He was a god, after all. Gods would not die. And gods would not do tricks.

It is difficult not to know what followed. Every inhabitant on Earth heard about how a psychopathic alien army, led by a different kind of alien but just as psychopathic, had invaded New York and was narrowly defeated by a previously unknown team of super-heroes, the now worldwide famous Avengers.

Loki had first very much liked this idea, being the monster which everyone said he was, being feared, being hated, and thus being powerful. But rage, as said before, was poisonous.

"You lack conviction." A dying man told him.

True. He had no long-term plan. He did not care about Midgard. All he wanted to do was to see despair in his brother's eyes.

The idea had proven very strong. So strong that even when he learnt about the death of his mother, the only being he still cared about, rage seemed to be the only thing he could cling to. It was almost a reflex. Prison had helped, of course. Nothing better than complete isolation to drive him enraged.

But Frigga's death had also brought up the very tiny whisper he heard a long time ago. At first, he refused to listen. Then, he did. Once, and ended up saving his brother's life. Soon after, when he managed to take his father's appearance, he brushed it aside. He had no need for remorse. No one had ever showed him remorse, anyway.

Along the following years of faking his identity as the King of Asgard, the whisper had become louder and louder. It became a real scream when his brother showed up again. His brother, who had changed. Alright, he was still a selfish oaf sometimes, but he had changed.

The proof was that he electrified him when he tried to betray him again.

That was fair game. Loki had realized that his countless betrayals had become so obvious that even Thor could predict it. That hurt.

So, since he had nothing else to do, he listened to the former-whisper-now-scream that the idea desperately wanted to silence. And it said something like _STOP LISTENING TO WHAT EVERYONE ELSE SAYS ABOUT YOU, FOOL!_

Oh. Only that?

Yes, only that.

Thus, Loki did not do what everyone thought he would do, that is to say running away, but he did what he wanted to do. Saving the Asgardians. And stealing the Tesseract. Sure, this made no sense, but a trickster should not make sense.

* * *

"And then Thanos." Morgan guessed.

And then, Thanos. Bringing fear back. And then, complete isolation. Bringing rage back. And then, Morgan.

"Bringing?"

"Bringing yourself, and that is already a good start."

She laughed. She seemed less worried than before.

"I really don't know which idea I prefer, between "Dad, go hang yourself" and "Bro, watch me destroy the Earth", honestly, we set high standards in terms of family issues."

Loki could not help smiling. No one else than Morgan was able to make jokes about this. They were both regretting their actions, but they did not want to regret who they were. People could despise or hate them, but they had stopped hating themselves.

"Morgan, I think we have talked enough."

"I was about to say the same. Are you sure you want a second try right now?"

"I am sure. As you said, I will get out." He smiled slyly.

He was ready. Perhaps still afraid, fear did not disappear so easily, but he was ready nonetheless. Morgan placed her hands on his temples and her eyes became bright again. He cleared his mind.

"AH!" She suddenly screamed.

"What happened?!" Loki anxiously asked.

What had he done, again? He was certain not to have countered anything. He was beginning to feel her power but she had brutally stopped, and her face was now marked by pain.

"My head is..." She began.

But Morgan could not finish her sentence. She disappeared.

* * *

 **Suggested end song: The Who (or the cover in the excellent TV Show _Legion_ ), _Behind Blue Eyes_. **


	21. Do we count to three?

Morgan woke up in a haze of nausea. When she rose up from her couch, her legs did not support her. She stumbled on the floor and collapsed.

She opened her eyes seconds later. Her head was hurting beyond reason, she was sweating and wanted to throw up.

"Ow... What... is... going on..." She mumbled.

She laboriously crawled on the floor to reach her satellite phone, to call Archie, or whoever might help, but she collapsed a second time.

When she woke up again, she did not move a muscle.

"Alright, stay on the floor, play dead, the most important is, do not faint again." She thought.

She began counting down the possibilities of what could have happened to her.

First, a snake had escaped and bit her. Morgan turned her gaze towards the shelf. She only had three snakes. The king brown, a pygmy copperhead and a dugite. All of them were in their boxes. And she detected no other intruding lifeform in the house.

Second, a very sudden and severe food poisoning. But the symptoms were strange. She indeed had shivers, sweating and nausea but she also had this specific migraine that only her powers could create.

Which left her with the last option; physical exhaustion. Morgan sighed. Of course. She had overused her powers. Not only had she ventured in Whatever-its-name and allowed the coexistence of both her and Loki's mind almost every single day, during weeks, but she had attempted to transfer her resistance not only to his mind but to his body. This had been the _coup de grâce_.

She needed a long break. But she did not want to.

"Really." She muttered "Couldn't this happen _after_ I help Loki getting out?"

On second thought, maybe it was better like that. She needed all her strength to confront Whatever-its-name. She had to rest as much as her body required.

"So, what do I require?" She asked herself out-loud.

Water.

Right. Still unsure about her legs, she crawled towards the fridge and seized a water bottled, which she emptied very slowly.

Next, food.

She grabbed a large box, which contained not really good-looking squares. One would have doubted that these were actual food. Morgan bit into one, taking her time to chew and swallow.

Pemmican was a high-energy mixture of fat and protein that she had learned to make in Canada. It was traditionally made of moose or bison meat, with some berries and nuts, and could be kept in perfect condition for months, or even years. She had cooked tons of it, using beef, before driving into the Outback.

Morgan already felt a little better. She was taking long breaths. Her headache was still terrible, she was still sweating like in the middle of the desert (which she kind of already was), but at least, no more shivers. Good start. Minutes later, she felt good enough to stand up, clinging to the walls, to grab some painkillers and a towel in the bathroom. She put a generous amount of cold water on the towel and wiped her forehead. Better. The hardest part seemed to be behind her.

* * *

"As far as I understand, you were half-dead." Som summed up.

"Pretty much. God save the Queen." Morgan answered, right after having put the heart queen in the middle of the table.

"And you are doing all of this for him. You know what, when I will meet this Loki of a god face-to-face, I will break a bottle on his head."

"He won't feel anything."

"I know. But it will make me feel better."

Som put a club on the top of the pile, rose up and jumped, then sat down.

"So, I guess... From the way you talk about him..." He started.

"Spit it out." Morgan smiled.

"Would you be drifting, and I say that just in case, towards a not-so-innocent-more-than-friendship-kind-of-a-relation?"

Morgan put a pair of spades and clapped her hands twice. Som considered it as an equivocal silence.

"I was sure. Two hundred percent."

Som and Morgan were playing the Best Game in Port Augusta. The proper name was the Best Game in Every Place We Play It. It was also called Mao, and the main rule could not be simpler; there are no rules. Talking about rules was forbidden, the winner of each game invented a new one, and everyone they had ever wanted to play with had ended up running after them in an attempt to smash their face on the table, or to make them swallow the entire card deck, or both, in a fit of creativity.

"So, you _think_ you will get him out or you are _sure_ you will get him out?"

"I am sure." Morgan asserted "And, if not for my physical exhaustion, I would do it right away."

"I know. I mean, I know that you are extremely strong. But, this White World... You can still be trapped again."

"This is a possibility. But, as you say, if we never attempt anything, nothing would ever be attempted."

"I was also sure you would say that." Som laughed.

He took another swallow of beer. Australian beer, this time. He and Morgan were playing cards in front of the ocean, close to Port Augusta. It was the end of the day. Nothing around them except seagulls. Morgan had spent nine days without going a single time in Whatever-its-name, and she was more than happy to see Som again. They always talked about everything that could possibly be talked about. Like her, Som had this intellectual curiosity that made him so eager to discover new concepts and ideas. His will to explore and question, combined with his bullet-proof self-confidence, was almost like radiation. It contaminated everyone around him. There was only one thing Morgan did not want to explain to him, and it was the White World. She knew that he craved explanations but pretended not to care, after having seen her devastated by her first experience. But now, things had changed. She could describe it to him. Although she figured that waiting for Loki in order to do so was probably not a bad idea.

"What time is it?" She suddenly asked, putting her cards down.

"Seven o'clock. I thought you did not want to hear about time."

"Except when it's your birthday, kiddo."

Morgan took an envelope out of her pocket and handled it to him. Today was April twenty-fifth and Som had just turned twenty-nine.

"Oh... _How_ did you do that?" Som said, his blue eyes shining with surprise "I mean, stuck in the middle of nowhere and you still find a way to... I shouldn't even be surprised, but still..."

"I had to find something to the height of your present." Morgan chuckled.

"Thanks, La Fay."

"You are very welcome, Elf."

The next day, Morgan was back in Oodnadatta. She felt good. Actually, she felt good for days, but she really wanted to take as few risks as possible ( _if_ possible was probably more accurate) when entering Whatever-its-name again.

It was the middle of the night. Morgan decided to go outside just in case Loki's possible comeback would destroy her house. Anything was possible.

She sat down. Time to go. She closed her eyes.

* * *

"Morgan!" Loki shouted again.

"I am here! I am alright!" She said "How long have you waited?"

"Not long. What happened to you? You seemed to be pain!"

Loki had to admit, these had been among the most terrible ten seconds of his entire life. And he had lived for centuries.

"I was exhausted, that was all. I overestimated my capacities. But I am fine, now."

"Are you sure?"

"Don't you trust me now, Loki?"

Hearing her pronouncing his name, which she did not do very often, was almost hypnotizing. He brought his hand just above hers, palm downwards, and she followed his gesture, turning her hand upwards. As if they were about to touch each other.

"I trust you, which is why I do not want to lose you."

"So, do not lose me." She smiled.

Her eyes turned bright gold once again. This time, Loki felt like an electric current was running down his spine, right towards his head. It was not very pleasant, but not painful either. He felt a very subtle taste of metal in his mouth. His head was tickling him a little, as if he had numerous sparkles around it.

"I... think it is done." Morgan said.

Judging by her tone, she had expected something much more spectacular, or maybe agonizing.

"Way out." Loki whispered.

"Yes, but how?"

"No, I mean, this is written over here." The Asgardian pointed.

She turned around and saw the door. It was a very simple wooden door, with the letters WAY OUT written above it. It stood in the middle of whiteness.

"It really looks like the beginning of _Alice in Wonderland_. I look forward to meeting the Cheshire Cat."

"Is it another literary reference?"

"For sure. Should we go?"

Loki and Morgan walked toward the door. The god of Mischief grabbed the handle and opened it. On the other side stood nothing less than Space. With asteroids, stars, and galaxies, basically everything one can expect when thinking about Space.

"This might be a lengthening." Loki said.

"What do you mean?"

"I was thinking about how impossible it seemed to get out of Whatever-its-name. But getting out, for both of us, actually means "going to Midgard". So, I figured that if we take a completely unpredictable and illogical way out, it might paradoxically be easier."

"You are a genius."

"God."

"Right. Do we count to three?"

"What for? There is no time yet."

* * *

Travelling between Space and Time was not really something Loki and Morgan were keen on doing. Being only a soul, Morgan was spared all the disagreeable sensations of endlessly falling, brutally stopping and sometimes not feeling some parts of the body. However, she could fully enjoy the sheer terror of not knowing where they were heading, and actually _if_ they were managing to head somewhere. As for Loki, it was the other way around. Despite feeling like slowly crushed by a steamroller, he was so determined to find his way that he did not even think about getting lost.

Which was what saved them. The mere idea of defeat is often enough to cause defeat. They fell and ran and jumped, from nowhere to everywhere. They came across more dimensions than they could conceive.

"Woah, Loki! Wh-where are you?" Morgan screamed, utterly terrified.

"Focus on me!" Was the only thing he managed to answer.

Suddenly, they found themselves in a place he knew too well. Corpses were spread on the floor. Someone was tied up by metal pieces. A gigantic individual held a seemingly lifeless body in his hand.

"Is this..." Morgan began.

"Thanos. And... me."

How strange it was, to see his inert body dropped in front of his brother, how painful to see his face torn by despair! Loki looked at himself. Eyes opened, he seemed perfectly dead. Morgan was looking as terrified as he was. With now two Infinity Stones fixed on his Gauntlet, Thanos proceeded to destroy the Asgardian ship. Blue and purple explosions surrounded them and Thor, who was crying over his brother's body. Everything was falling apart. The god of Thunder was projected further away, while Loki's body was slowly turning blue, coming back to his Frost Giant appearance.

"The cold..." He muttered.

The deep cold he remembered. The cold from outer space. The cold seemed to revive the very small sparkle of life he was clinging to. Morgan extended her hand and, to their common surprise, managed to touch his Jotunn skin. Then, purple and blue flashes blinded them, they fell again, rapidly, more and more rapidly, Loki wondered if he was actually feeling Morgan's hand, and suddenly they stumbled in the Australian dust.

* * *

Suggested end song: Queens, _We are the Champions_. Nah, just kidding. But that's what Morgan is thinking right now.


	22. I would like a rat

**Little warning here: This chapter has... a quite graphic scene (second paragraph). Not overly gory, but still.**

* * *

"We made it. We made it, we made it." She tirelessly repeated.

Morgan was laying on her back, her arms spread-eagled, exhausted but relieved. She was pale, however. Loki's head was spinning but that did not stop him from standing up. He took a deep breath, incredulous. He was out. He. Was. Out.

"I almost can't believe it." Morgan whispered.

The Asgardian turned to her and stretched his hand to help her getting back on her feet. At the second she grabbed it, he felt like an electric shock had struck him and suddenly withdrew his arm. Remaining on the ground, Morgan did not seem offended.

"For once, it is not my fault. I felt it too, on the first days out… All kinds of sensation seemed overwhelming."

Loki did not reply. It was too much at the same time. Fresh wind against his face. Crackled earth under his feet. Brilliant stars in the night. Distant sounds. All of them were real. He was real.

Morgan was sitting with her legs crossed now, head turned to the sky. She was real. Loki lowered to gently clasp her right hand. He shivered when he touched her. The contact of his skin against another's felt like a complete new impression.

Her hand was warm.

He did not move, nor did he say anything, still holding her hand like a scared child. To be honest, he was scared, scared of being trapped again. Morgan slowly came closer and put his forehead against his.

"We made it." She told him again.

He nodded. He wanted to thank her. But his lips refused to open. The only thing that mattered at the moment was not to let her hand go.

She seemed to understand. It would take as much time as needed. She looked at the sky again.

"I know it may sound syrupy but I have to say that nowhere in the entire world will you ever see as many and as shiny stars as those."

He looked as well. He had already seen much more impressive galaxies across the universe but he did not mention it, and she was right anyway, it was breath-taking.

"Night in the open it is. Fine for me."

Morgan settled into a more comfortable position. She did not seem to care about resting on the ground. She was truly exhausted, Loki could tell by the sound of her voice. As for him, sleep was absolutely out of question. He did not move for a long time, focusing on the fresh atmosphere of the night, the galaxies above his head, and the hand he was still holding.

* * *

He did not know what provoked it.

 _Brother!_

Hands beginning to shake. Tears in his eyes. Erratic breath.

 _You will long for something as sweet as pain._

The white again. The silence again. The loneliness again. The suffering again.

 _I am here._

Where was he? What just happened? What did he have in his hand?

 _You will get out._

He looked. Another hand. Not his.

 _Should we go?_

Tears silently rolling down his cheek. He could not help it. He could not think correctly.

"Loki…"

He could not see clearly either. Was he dead? Was he alive?

"Loki!"

A contact against his hand. He saw eyes. Brown eyes, golden eyes?

Morgan was holding his arm firmly, shouting his name. She seemed to be in pain.

He realized that his whole body was trembling. His back was shaking and his throat was blocked. He could not speak. All he could actually do was to let go of this indefinable terror.

"LOKI! STOP!"

She was shouting. He heard another noise. A disgusting one. It looked like something was slowly cracking. He looked down.

Tears were blurring his sight. But he realized what he was doing.

Morgan was screaming in pain, desperately trying to escape his hand, which was literally crushing hers. The noise he heard was none other than her bones breaking.

When Loki finally managed to let her go, she curled of the ground, panting. Her hand was dreadful to look at. The phalanxes were all dismantled, two of them had even pierced the skin, now covered with blood.

He had done this.

"I… I am…"

I am sorry, he wanted to say. He wanted to say it so bad. But no matter how hard he tried, the words would not come.

Of course, he had not meant to do this. But that did not matter. What was done was done. This was all he would ever do. Break things.

"There is an… ecstasy that marks… the summit of life …"

Loki froze. He remembered those words. She had articulated them with difficulty, but she had said them before. It came from a story.

Morgan was slowly coming closer to him. He looked at her. Her face was tightened by pain.

Oh, how he hated himself. He was just a disgusting monster, always ruining everything, always betraying everyone. Why couldn't he stop?

"I am sorry." He managed to speak.

He wanted to say more. I am sorry to have broken your hand. I am sorry for having taken your body. I am sorry, brother. I am sorry, mother. I am sorry to be what I am.

"Loki."

He did not move. He did not care. Nothing mattered. He had lost. He was lost.

Her chest against his. She had taken him into her arms. He could hear her jolting breath.

"Loki. Do not lose yourself now. Please, do everything but that. Cry, scream, break my other hand if you have to, I hope you won't though, but do not lose your name."

"Morgan?"

Her name. He had managed to say her name. Maybe, maybe that was real? Maybe that was not the end?

"Am I alive?" He stammered.

He was holding her back now. If he squeezed too much, it would probably kill her, and she knew it.

"Yes. You are alive. YOU ARE ALIVE! AND YOU ARE LOKI!"

He was Loki. He burst into tears.

* * *

He did not know for how long he cried. Every time he seemed to soothe, new sobs came along. He instinctively felt that he had to. Pride did not matter. Enough of this.

The sun started to rise. Progressively, his body stopped shaking, his tears faded away. He turned his face towards Morgan.

She was torn by pain and exhaustion, and yet, he saw no trace of anger in her eyes.

"Can you stand up?" She asked.

He nodded. She rose and he imitated her.

"I am thirsty. Do you want to come?"

She was slowly heading for the little house, holding her wounded arm against her chest. Loki uneasily followed her. He turned to the sky again. The last stars were disappearing.

He found Morgan drinking avidly to a water bottle. When she finished, she took a deep breath and poured the remaining liquid on her wound. She clenched her teeth as the water was cleaning the dust and the dried blood. Loki realized that not only did he break the bones of her hand, he also impeached her to calm the pain, to rest and even to drink. He really did not see how more pathetic he could be.

"Water?"

She was handling him another bottle. He grabbed it and realized that his throat was incredibly dry as well.

When the water touched his lips, it felt like he had taken a blow to the jaw. The sensation was so intense that he almost fell.

With her valid hand, Morgan was rummaging in a cupboard. She put several random products on the kitchen counter and started to eat from a little bag of nuts. Loki did not offer to assist her. He knew that this would be the supreme form of contempt. She would accept his apologies, his _help_ , but certainly not his _pity_.

Alright. He had to fix this.

"Let me heal your hand." He suddenly asked.

For a second, he was amazed by his renewed capacity to make long statements.

Morgan seemed dubious. She did not answer right away, still eating what she could put her hand on. The Asgardian admired her fierce, silent strength. She had not complained. She would scream out of pain but she would never lament.

"I don't want to now." She finally answered.

For a second, he thought that everything was over. That she would just let him drink something then urge him to get out and never see her again.

"I would not like to see you having another fit while healing me." She clarified.

"It will not happen." Loki assured.

"Anyway, let's just wait a little for you to calm down. My hand is not going to break further. It hurts like hell but I will not die. Eat something. Rest, if you have to. Tell me when you will be ready."

Right, the god thought. It should not be done quickly, it should be done well. Meanwhile, he could at least dim the pain a little.

When he came closer to her, Morgan looked at him with inquiring eyes.

"It will not make me fall asleep or anything or the sort?" She asked, after he explained his intention.

"No, just less sensitive for a while."

She could not refrain a sigh of relief when Loki touched her forehead.

"I have to say... I expected something else for our first physical encounter." She finally said.

Loki did not reply. What could he say? All these newfound sensations had made him panicked in a way he would never have expected.

"Would you like to take a look at the snakes?" Morgan suddenly suggested.

She did not wait for his answer and walked closer to the four boxes containing a reptile.

"King brown, you already saw me catching it, very tranquil, contrary to the previous one. This is a dugite, very common in Australia, young female, longer than average. That is a pygmy copperhead, very difficult to find, and this one is quite nervous. And I am proud to present you with the most venomous snake in the world..."

"The inland taipan." Loki recalled.

"Also known as the fierce snake." She smiled "But this adjective describes its venom rather than its behaviour. It is a very reclusive animal. However, even you should be careful. One bite possesses enough lethality to kill at least a hundred fully grown men, and it can strike multiple times with extreme accuracy."

"But you are here, so I have nothing to fear, have I?" He smiled.

"Technically, I am the most dangerous here, even with a broken hand." She laughed "Finding it was pure luck, that was only five days ago, so it can still be a little unpredictable."

"We are quite used to that, by now."

She carefully opened the box with her valid hand, not breaking eye contact with the animal. The taipan was dark tan, with a black round-snouted head. It placidly observed Morgan and Loki, as if wondering why they were suddenly so interested in its daily routine.

The Asgardian slowly advanced his hand and the snake timidly crawled towards it, regularly tickling his skin with its tongue. Loki playfully stuck a bifid tongue out as well. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Morgan doing her best to contain her laughter.

"How are you feeling here?" He asked the taipan.

It was not really a discussion, more of an exchange of thoughts. Loki was talking, so Morgan could understand him, but the snake, as deaf as all snakes were, was answering through images and movements, which could be translated by _not bad, it is hot and dry here, the usual, and I eat well, and the female creature is nice, and you are nice too, but both of you really are strange, I have never seen any other members of your specie behaving as such_.

"They are not like us, indeed."

 _That is a pity. The female creature is not a taipan but I like her anyway. You are not a taipan and a taipan at the same time, this is confusing._

"Sorry."

 _Never mind. I am quite hungry. I would like a rat. Do you eat rats?_

"No. It does not look very tasty."

"Are you really discussing culinary preferences with an inland taipan?"

"I just told him that I do not have a lot of experience in rat cooking."

That was it for Morgan. She tried not to make a sound but she was crying laughing.

Loki stood up and returned his tongue to its normal appearance. He suddenly realized that he was truly back. Not only were his sensations but also his powers back. It seemed like years had passed between now and the moment he found himself in Whatever-its-name.

He came closer to Morgan and took her wounded arm with infinite precaution. She let him do so, and his palms radiated with familiar green light. Even more carefully, he brushed every corner of her hand, putting the bones back in place and healing the skin. She winced with surprise but not with pain.

"This is disgusting and fascinating at the same time." She commented, looking at her phalanxes coming back to their usual order.

"Forgive me."

Morgan slowly moved her fingers one by one.

"You just forgave yourself right now." She smiled.

She put her newly healed hand on Loki's forearm. He shivered again when she touched him, but he did not withdraw. On the contrary, he advanced his hand as well, brushing her arm, her shoulder, then her neck. They gradually came closer to each other, taking their time to mutually confirm their presence. Loki wrapped himself around her, stroking her back, and felt Morgan's hands around his. He noticed her fruit fragrance, but he could not say which one. Something like orange or mandarin. He realized that both of them were trembling a little. This embrace dissipated their final doubts. They were truly out of Whatever-its-name. Together.

* * *

 **Suggested end song: The Weepies, _Gotta have you_**

 **Thank you, mayou-chan, TimelessEnds, ShigureAyameHatoriFanClub, Justmeesh33, MadelineT, 500ml and Anathemas for following my story!**


	23. Not going anywhere

While Morgan was finishing to feed her snakes, Loki explored. This word might be exaggerated, considering how small and bare the cabin was, but he was truly examining every single detail he could cast his eye upon. Books were the main curiosity. He quickly spotted _The Call of the Wild_ , along with _The Road_. Next to them were other various volumes, mainly about History, biology, sometimes physics or even religion and philosophy. Morgan's tastes really were eclectic. His attention was suddenly caught by a familiar name. Terry Pratchett, he read. _Small Gods_.

Alright, let's begin with that, he thought, and seized the book.

"You will not regret it." Morgan assured "Have you ever tried to shapeshift into a turtle?"

"This story looks promising, indeed."

Loki's gaze examined the rest of the shelf. He spotted all kinds of tools Morgan probably used to catch snakes and wander in the desert in general, from a long metal hook to a voluminous first-aid kit, and even...

"By Hell, what is _that_?" He exclaimed.

Morgan put the lid back on the king brown's box and turned around, confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"How can you even think about using such a degraded tool?" The god continued.

The cause of his stupefaction lied in his right hand. It was a very large hunting knife, and Loki was considering it with all the contempt he could have, that is to say, a lot.

"It pretty much looks like a knife, doesn't it?" Morgan teased.

"Barely! Have you ever taken care of it?"

He seized the sharpening stone (at least Morgan had one, but that did not mean she knew how to properly use it) and promptly rubbed the weapon against it. Morgan seemed fascinated by his swift and expert gesture. He could not resist the temptation to impress her even more and conjured one of his favourite daggers in his hand.

It had been so long since he last clasped his blade! Loki added the final touch to Morgan's knife by skilfully rubbing it against his. There was no more solid steel than the one coming from the ancient forges of Nidavellir.

"Now, this is what I would begin to call a knife." He theatrically declared.

Morgan grabbed it, almost hesitantly.

"You did not tell me how experienced you were in the art of blades."

"Concerning that matter, showing is the best way to tell." Loki smiled "Take good care of it, and it will never deceive you."

Morgan smiled in return.

"An idea in mind?" The Asgardian guessed.

"More of a request, actually. Apparently, I cannot use magic, which is a pity. Would you teach me how to use a blade in a fight?"

Loki nodded. Now, he could not let go of the image of Morgan taming snakes by elegantly swirling a thin dagger.

* * *

Some little noises progressively came to their ears. Drops of water tapping against the roof.

"Rain again. I hope it will not be as violent as last time."

Loki walked towards the open door. It was still early; the rising sun displayed its pink and orange morning tones. He went outside and let the water flow on his skin. Re-discovering every sensation did not necessarily seem to be a bad thing, after all. He took off his black jacket, he was already hot with it anyway, and only then did he realize her presence behind him.

The rain was making her hair curlier than normal. Morgan's thin black shirt was becoming wet against her skin, further revealing her breast and waist. She slowly came closer to him. Loki saw in her eyes the very same desire he had in his.

Now, they could do whatever they wanted, go wherever they wanted. But he wanted her and she wanted him. Nothing else mattered.

Loki inclined his head towards hers, and Morgan crossed the last centimetres still separating them. Finally, he tasted her lips, finally, he felt her skin against his! Her mouth was warm. Their kiss was deep, selfish and selfless at the same time. Morgan raised her hands to his neck, stroking his long and dark hair, while Loki's hands were slowly caressing her back and her waist.

"It feels good to be alive, doesn't it?" Morgan smiled.

Orange blossom, he suddenly recognized. He breathed her fragrance again. They kissed sensually, languorously. Loki's tongue explored her mouth. From what he saw, Morgan loved this a much as he did.

"I am impressed." She finally said.

"By what?"

"By you. Right now, I am more than enjoying to see you like this." She laughed.

Even though she seemed to tease him, her sincerity was too obvious. She was looking. Admiring. Morgan did not seem to be the shy type of woman. Neither was he, to say the least.

"I want to see you." He said at her ear.

Morgan helped him unbuttoning her shirt, then unhooking her bra. They kissed again, caressing their naked and now wet torsos. Loki smiled at the sight of Morgan's chest, strongly tanned at some places and almost white on others. He liked this contrast. Her breasts were rather small but perfectly shaped. He held her tight in his arms, fully savouring her flowery perfume and the contact of their bare skin. They were physically discovering each other, with their lips and fingers. The rain was making it easier for them to caress their back and chest. When Loki's mouth got down from her neck to her breasts, Morgan could not refrain a moan of delight.

"I would love to hear more of these ravishing sounds." He whispered.

"Make me."

She was wearing small grey shorts, which rapidly fell on the ground. Loki's hands went around her legs and her bottom, while Morgan was unclasping his belt, in order to make things even. He quickly took off his shoes and his trousers. The rain was becoming more and more intense, but none of them cared. Plus, they were not disturbed by thunderstorm. Not disturbed by anything, actually.

Morgan had only her black panties on, and she bit her lips out of excitement when Loki slid his hand under them. The sounds of pleasure she made when he started to delicately rub her clitoris were simply delightful. She was lusciously wet and hot inside. Her body was trembling with pleasure and her eyes were shining gold. In short, her self-control was lost into the Australian Outback. Loki's one was probably on his way to Norway, maybe even to Sakaar when he felt Morgan's hand taking off his underwear and starting to caress him. His left hand was holding her tight by the hip while his other hand was busy finding how to please her more and more.

She was moaning his name now. The tone of her voice was sweet and scandalous, and it turned him on even further, if it was still possible. His exclamations of pleasure soon joined hers, and Morgan's thin wet fingers against him were absolutely perfect. She kissed him and her tongue feverously explored his mouth.

Loki contemplated the rain drops on her hair, her nipples, her pubes. If excitement had a picture, it was Morgan licking the water around her mouth. By Hell, this sight was worth living. He felt her legs tightening around his fingers, and her sudden climax finished to make him lose his mind. He was not going to last much longer and Morgan's lustful face invited him to join her in ecstasy. Which he did. His body tightened and he groaned with pleasure, gripping her hips and biting her shoulder.

Both of them fell on the ground, panting.

"Loki..." Morgan sighed "Oh, god... of Mischief..."

"Easy one..." He smiled.

They were sitting naked in the sand but the rain was so abundant that they might as well be taking a shower.

"I vote for a change of the expression "to look like a Greek god" into "to look like a Norse god". This is more accurate." Morgan laughed.

* * *

The rain had been intense but short-lived. Fortunately for Loki, the atmosphere was definitely not as hot as last time. It was still uncomfortable, though. Even without his Frost Giant appearance, he was quite sensitive to heat. Apparently, this was autumn in Australia, hence he really did not look forward to testing the summer months.

Morgan was casually sit in the shade of the door. Neither she nor Loki had put any clothes back.

"I hope you are enjoying the view." Morgan smiled, spotting Loki's gaze all over her body "Unfortunately, it will not last long, because of the most terrible creatures on planet Earth: Australian mosquitoes."

Loki chuckled and followed her inside the cabin, where she was rummaging in a little wardrobe. She put a pair of red panties and bras on. The colour contrasted marvellously with her skin.

"I am sorry, I really have no other clothe to give you."

The god smiled and waved his hand. A flash of green light later, he was wearing black trousers and an olive-green shirt, both made of very thin Asgardian fabric. No need for an armour in such a hot place.

"This might work as well." Morgan admitted.

She barely had the time to end her sentence that Loki felt like his strength was suddenly vanishing. He staggered and had to hold onto the kitchen counter. This was not painful but extremely disagreeable.

"By Hell, what again..." He cursed.

"I was almost worried not to see this happen." Morgan calmly declared.

"What do you mean by that?" Loki anxiously asked.

"I mean that you have gotten out of a place that follows no laws of Space and Time, had a panic attack shortly after, healed the human hand you broke, and, last but not least, had a very specific kind of physical activity." She laughed "All of that obviously took its toll on your body. I need to sleep, and I think it would be a good idea if you did so as well."

Loki frowned. Physical exhaustion seemed quite logical indeed. Nevertheless, the mere thought of closing his eyes, and thus taking the risk to fall into another trap, was still paralyzing every corner of his mind. Morgan seemed to understand his reluctance.

"I will be here. I am not going anywhere without you, Loki."

He shook his head.

"Not yet. Not now. Maybe later, but I simply cannot close my eyes again."

"Fair enough. Perhaps eating something, at least?"

He winced. It was so hot in here that drinking had not been an issue. However, the perspective of eating was so far away that is seemed almost unnatural. Morgan put a large box on the coffee table and took what looked like little solid mixtures of bread and pâté. Not very appetizing, to remain courteous.

"This is called pemmican, and is made of animal fat, meat and berries. It does not look nor sound very appealing, but it is also the best nutrient-dense food I have ever had."

She bit into one square and handed him a morsel. The taste was rather bland, to Loki's opinion, which was a good thing. His body was still not used to feel hunger again, but he needed energy. He forced himself to eat, taking small pieces one by one.

"Which lifeforms can you control?" He suddenly asked.

Morgan, taken aback by his question, gave him an inquiring look.

"You mentioned mosquitoes. Are you unable to control insects? Can you only influence beings with a more developed conscience?"

Despite her tiredness, she seemed eager to answer him.

"You have put the finger on a very interesting point. Like yours, my power is nuanced and complicated. I am pretty sure that I have not fully explored all my potential. But I have come to know at least several things. First, I can influence living beings' emotions, which are ultimately related to the two most basic natural instincts: self-preservation and need to reproduce. Second, there is a limit to what can be considered as a "controllable being". It has always been difficult for me to influence hives."

"Hives? Bees or ants for example?"

"Exactly. At first, I found it so ironical; the soul-bender, oh yes, I was quite arrogant, losing to some insects. So, I observed. I once worked with a bee-keeper when I was Thelma. Hives are not dumb. Whereas they have very little individuality, they display a highly developed collective behaviour. The opposite is hard to control as well. Most of humans are driven by their animal emotions, and yet, they are far from dumb. Beings with an extremely powerful mental strength make it very hard for me to exert full control upon them."

"So, you are wondering where the equilibrium is."

"In short, what the soul is. As simple as that."

Loki nodded. Her abilities were marvellous but also justified her entire life of hide and seek.

"I understand how reluctant you are to tell anyone about that."

"If humanity had a way to explore the very notion of soul... I do not even want to imagine what they would do to me "in the name of science" ... Apart from my own life, which I intend to keep, with the speed of our technological improvement, this could have dire consequences." Morgan gloomily sighed.

"But it is not as if you could not overpower them." Loki smiled wryly.

"I would not be so sure. Just look how tired I was after I knocked unconscious the six Masters in Nepal. I should not have gone easy on this Tokur. And only one of Stark's drones, with a very high intelligence but no conscience at all, would neutralize me in an instant."

This power contrast was astonishing. Morgan could potentially be able to overpower every single member of the Avengers, even the green beast, but Stark sent one of his little robots and she was done for.

Loki noticed that it was becoming incredibly difficult for her to keep both eyes opened. She was already half-asleep, and he helped her laying down on the couch. She clasped his hand, the same way he did when he found himself in the desert, out of the white.

"I am not going anywhere without you either, Morgan."

First, because she was the most important thing in his life, now. Second, because, well, he did not know how to drive a car.

* * *

 **Across the story of Morgan and Loki, I really wanted to set some challenges that are generally avoided in super hero movies, for ethical reasons. Making a character with the power to influence souls is damn hard because, yeah, what's the soul, and does it even exist? When I was thinking about this story, I was also reading the books of Yuval Noah Harari (** _ **Sapiens**_ **and** _ **Homo Deus**_ **). They are very interesting, at least for a totally-non-expert like me, and the way he describes technological improvements that are currently done in labs, but could well be affordable to everyone in the future, made me realize that some of Morgan's powers already exist. There is indeed a way (still limited) to influence our brains, through calibrated electric shocks, in order to make us feel pleasure, displeasure, resist to stress, etc. So, of course, it raises questions like what makes us, are we only biochemical algorithms or do we have a conscience which we have not been able to theorize yet, and so on...**

 **End of the philosophical debate, I hope you appreciate this story. Sex scene, then theories about soul. Mashup. Oh, and by the way, for those thinking that the first was quite short, well, both Morgan and Loki have spent months alone in different kinds of desert, so I figured they had kind of lost the habit for a while. It's also been a while since I last wrote one so be indulgent with me ^^**


	24. What would you be the god of?

When Morgan opened her eyes, she felt incredibly well rested. Loki was sit on the floor, close to the couch, reading. His face was repeatedly marked by some amused grins.

"Do you like the Discworld?" She asked.

Loki closed the book, which he had nearly finished, and turned around.

"I once listened to a man in Asgard, telling about a universe resting on elephants, themselves resting on a giant turtle. He had drunk thirteen bottles of Asgardian wine and was considered as a legend not to have succumbed to it. I may have found one of his descendants." He concluded, showing the book.

Morgan chuckled.

"Also, you speak in your sleep."

"Oh, dear. What did I say?"

"Pecan nuts, mainsail, parking meter. What is a parking meter?"

She burst into laughter.

"It's... Of no use here. How long have I been asleep?"

She did not expect an answer from Loki (time was another notion he would have to get re-used to) and grabbed her phone.

"Bad news. Som is going to kill us both."

Their meeting point, the town of Coober Pedy was a seven hour-drive from Morgan's house, and she had to be there in less than four. In other words, she had slept a long time.

"How do you think he will react when he will see me?" Loki inquired.

"Probably by asking you where your helmet is. He is quite something."

Loki smiled. Despite all his encounters with Som, he could not really say that he knew him, since they interacted through Morgan. However, this man had gotten used to him amazingly quickly. He had no problem admitting that Loki was part of her mind from time to time, thus being able to hear and see him, and that everything was fine. This was either madness or absolute trust between him and Morgan.

Both, doubtlessly.

"Oh, before I forget..." She started "Would you like to fake your psychic death?"

Morgan probably was the only person in the world able to casually ask this question without being in a straightjacket.

"Are you talking about this "escape from the mystical radar", as you put it?"

"I am. Basically, if someone was able to mentally track every single person across the world, Som and I would never be found. Of course, this does not change the fact that you can still physically be seen."

Loki briefly thought about how easily he had been trapped by this Doctor Strange, when he was looking for his father in New York. Indeed, this could prove very useful...

"How do you proceed?" He inquired.

"The more I know someone, the easier and painless it is. If I did it to a completely random person, it could potentially kill him since it consists of intruding into his very conscience and making it undetectable."

"This does not sound very appealing. How did your friend react?"

"With just a small headache for the rest of the day. Not a high price to pay."

Psychic invisibility. It seemed very tempting.

"Do you have the strength to do it?"

"I am feeling quite good. It should not be long. We already are late so we can as well do it now."

"Very well."

Morgan sat in front of him and put her thumbs on his forehead and her fingers on his temples. Then, her eyes became bright, exactly like in Whatever-its-name, and Loki felt the same tickling sensation inside his head. A few seconds later, Morgan withdrew her hands and her eyes returned to their usual colour. Loki's head was still vibrating a little, but nothing more.

"Is it done already?" He asked.

"Even easier than I expected. How do you feel?"

"Terribly normal. I am becoming an expert in fake death now."

* * *

"He adopted you so quickly, I am almost jealous." Morgan laughed.

She glanced again at the inland taipan, which was lazily intertwined around Loki's left arm. The Asgardian smiled and put it back in its box, on the backseat or the car.

The advantage of having a small house and very few items inside was the rapidity with which one could move. Save for the four snake boxes, as well as a lot of water bottles, a real matter of life and death in the Australian desert, Morgan did not carry a lot of things with her. Now, Loki was examining the Vibranium knuckle-duster. The metal was unique; lighter than he expected, and yet very dense.

"Where did you say this mineral was coming from?"

"An African country called Wakanda. Its story is quite peculiar."

"We have both set very high standards in terms of peculiar stories."

Wakanda, then. If Morgan had not given him details about its exact geographical location, which the world had learnt very recently, Loki would have had no problem believing that it was actually the name of another planet. Morgan started by telling him how the country had managed to remain hidden to the rest of the world for centuries, then how its current king, the so-called Black Panther, had been making the most of its technological superiority to jump around in a cat suit in South Korea.

"I beg your pardon?"

No, no exaggeration here. However, some obscure reasons had lead him to explain the true status of his country in front of the United Nations Assembly. Morgan had only briefly heard about this event since she had just settled in the middle of the Outback at that time. Som definitely knew a lot more than her on that matter, the proof being in Loki's hand.

"I presume he did not obtain it by politely asking."

"Very unlikely, but with Som, we never know."

Morgan was driving fast. The road was covered by red dust and some rare puddles, which were already evaporating. Around them stood bushes and some isolated trees. The sky was bright blue now, and the wind was blissfully refreshing. However, the heat was definitely not enough to upset him. Loki was exulting. He had won. He was out of Whatever-its-name. He was alive. And powerful. His magic was running in his veins livelier than ever. This sensation made him remember the quote from _The Call of the Wild_ , which Morgan had painfully articulated, "there is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life".

And beyond which life could not rise.

"Do not slow down." He suddenly said "I want to try something."

"I have a bad feeling about this." Morgan nervously laughed.

Loki smiled wryly and opened the car front door. She barely had the time to ask him why that he jumped out of it in a flash of green light.

"What in the..."

He did not hear the rest of the sentence, immediately feeling the need to go higher and higher. By Hell, he had forgotten how exalting it was! Loki could not help being amazed by how easily he had transformed. This usually required intense concentration, but taking his eagle form had appeared so simple, this time.

He was at least twice as big as the usual bird of prey he often observed in Asgard (he did not know about Midgardian eagles but they seemed to be approximately the same size). Feeling the strength in his arms-now-wings only encouraged him to raise even further. Then, he let himself be carried by the wind. His vision was also incredibly acute. Even at this height, he was seeing everything, from the slightest variation of colour to shapes and movements. It had been so long since he last had fun in shapeshifting! Everyone on Asgard was sneering at him for that, but he easily spotted the light of jealousy those praised warriors did not want to admit, which made him feel above them. And he was. Literally.

"I have to say, I am surprised not to be more surprised."

Loki had swiftly returned to his Asgardian appearance, landing where she had parked the car. He had enjoyed flying for a long time, and now Morgan was taking a break before the final kilometres to Coober Pedy. She had stopped in front of a small river. The vegetation was becoming less scarce, which provided them with more than welcomed shade.

"You are lying." Loki teased.

"Not really. You are always full of surprises but at least I am sure of that."

Loki came closer to her and let his hand around her waist.

"Full of _every kind_ of surprise." Morgan smiled.

He captured her lips in a long, deep kiss, while his hands expertly brushed her back and her hips. He wanted to discover her, explore her, know her. The image of her body under the rain was only one among many others he intended to remember. His fly as an eagle had been exceptional but the sensation was not even comparable to the one he felt when he had her mouth against his and saw the exquisite light of desire in her eyes.

It felt good to be alive.

* * *

"You two are dead."

"I am also happy to see you, Som." Morgan smiled.

He did not seem particularly upset. Actually, Loki had never seen this Midgardian upset even once. He was beaming with confidence. Not the same kind as Thor's, though. Som had a way to equally pay attention to every person around him. He was not imposing his presence and this made him all the more charming. Even when he had spent more than three hours waiting in a remote Australian town.

"And I am pleased to finally meet you, Loki, god of Crazy Ideas." He theatrically added.

What did he just...?

"I have always found the notion of "mischief" a little reductive. I cannot really say you are out of ideas, being for tricks or anything else."

Som was definitely having fun. Henceforth, Loki could do nothing but appreciate him.

"And what would you be the god of?" He playfully teased.

"Piano, for sure. No one plays better than me. And god of Homemade Punjabi Samosa."

He ended his sentence by putting a large box on the ground. Inside was a heap of little flaky pastries, of triangular shape, which definitely looked more appetizing than Morgan's pemmican. Loki's examination was interrupted by Som handing him a bottle.

"The beer you should have had long ago."

The Asgardian grabbed it, almost hesitantly. Morgan and Som's unquestionable friendship immediately seemed so obvious, to him. They only judged him for who he was at the given moment. This could look like madness, and indeed, they fully assumed their own part of madness. As he did.

"To tricking the White World?" Morgan suggested.

"To tricking the White World." Loki approved.

"Hey, White World! Screw you!" Som yelled.

The three of them laughed. Loki tasted the Indian beer with precaution. Not that bad, definitely less strong than the one he drank on Asgard.

"I presume you never had samosa. You simply cannot find a more delicious appetizer."

"Oh Som, I am worshipping you right now." Morgan said, right after biting into one.

"I look forward to seeing my altar, _Manasa Devi_."

"Manasa Devi?" Loki interrogated.

"This is one of the countless Hindu gods, mainly adored in Bengal. She is the master of snakes and the destroyer of poison." He explained "As for samosas, these are stuffed with potatoes and condiments like coriander, garlic, ginger, chili, turmeric, curry and garam masala. But do not worry, if Morgan can tolerate them, everyone can."

" _Ulloo ka patthaa._ " She articulated, which made Som and Loki burst into laughter.

"In which language did she just say that you are the son of an owl?" The Asgardian asked.

"This is Hindi, one of the main dialects in India. The one I am using now, which Morgan cannot understand, is Bengali, my native language."

"Curse you, really, both of you." Morgan smiled.

Loki chuckled and decided to try the salty pastry. It was still warm, and when he tasted it, he felt an incredible range of spices and herbs in his mouth. He did not know the majority of the ingredients Som had enumerated, nevertheless, this was delicious.

"I think he likes it." Som whispered.

"I do not say that I like it, god of Piano, I just say that this is the best Midgardian food I have tasted so far."

"Sorry, I still take it as a compliment." He smiled, raising his bottle.

From what Loki knew about Coober Pedy, where he had already been twice with Morgan, they were settled barely a kilometre away from the habitations. Their rendezvous point was a bunch of trees under which they could be safe from the sun, at the end of the afternoon. The town in itself was not really pretty, but it was interesting to see that Midgardians had developed ingenuous ideas to avoid the scorching heat during summer; most of the population was living in houses underground. Morgan and him always met Som away from prying eyes, which was understandable since he arrived in the middle of a sparkling golden circle.

"So, I presume we have a lot to talk about." Som began, after another sip of his beer "What do we do about the Thanos case?"

* * *

As expected, Morgan and Loki talked a lot. Som was already aware of Thanos' objectives and had legitimately pointed out the absurdity of _surely_ destroying half of the universe in order to _possibly_ avoid its entire destruction. This made no sense.

In any case, they agreed on at least warning someone one way or another. The hardest part was to find a someone who would believe them and not directly throw them into prison, or an asylum, or both. They reluctantly acknowledged that the best person to warn was Doctor Strange, since he was specialized in, well, strangeness. Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man, might be a good option, since he undeniably was one of the most cerebrated members of the remaining Avengers. Needless to say, the three of them were not really eager to engage in such a mission. First of all, because it was almost suicidal. Second, because... There was no second. It was almost suicidal, period.

"I cannot guarantee that nothing has happened today." Som warned "I checked the news right before leaving but I waited here for quite a while. I actually ended up playing cards with some tourists in the Underground Motel, while the owner was busy fixing his television."

"I actually have a very simple way to know." Morgan asserted "The same way I can erase souls from the mystical radar, I can also find them."

"What do you mean by that?" Loki questioned.

"As I told you, the more I know someone, the easier it is to "erase" or "find" this person. In a way, I can say that I know your brother a little."

Loki's breath almost stopped. She could know, right now, if Thor was alive... This would mean that what he saw was real, when he was getting out of Whatever-its-name. The ship really exploded, Thor was maybe still drifting into space...

"Can you... really do that?" He articulated.

"I only saw him for a few seconds. I will need an intense concentration, but it could be possible. The only reason why I could not reach him means... that he is dead."

Loki felt a terrible apprehension twisting his stomach. It was only a matter of seconds before knowing the fate of his brother, and he suddenly dreaded this moment.

But now is not the time for hesitation, he thought. If he was to mourn, he would mourn later. Most of all, he was not alone.

Loki came closer to Morgan and advanced his right hand towards her head.

"I could show you some memories." He suggested "Would it be helpful to find him?"

"Definitely."

Morgan crossed her legs and straightened her back. And Loki opened his mind to her.

He had never done that to anyone. His mind was the most intimate thing he had, and the wound of having been used by the power of the Mind Stone was not healed completely. It would take time, a lot of time. However, he felt confident enough to transfer some very specific memories about his brother. Mostly the pleasant ones.

"Now I understand that prank with the snake." She chuckled, when he withdrew his hand.

She seemed a little dizzy, but apart from that, nothing truly abnormal.

"Alright, you two surely have a lot to discuss." She suddenly suggested.

"No problem." Som smiled.

He stood up and walked further away. Loki reluctantly followed him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Morgan settling on the ground, eyes closed, perfectly still.

He did not know what to pray, but he hoped his brother was safe.

* * *

 **So, this chapter is the turning point. That means, way more MCU characters involved from the next one on (and more Som/Loki interactions). The next chapter was among my favourite to write, so I'm definitely not building suspense. Nope. Some of you may already know when the story takes place (AnadoraBlack does, for sure!) but the clue is hidden in chapter 21.**

 **If you have a general impression about the first part of the story, I would be really pleased to read it. For example, is the concept of Whatever-its-name a good one? Is Loki's character respected? Is Morgan an interesting original character? And do I keep on making dreadful spelling mistakes? I don't think my story is the worst, but it's definitely not the best either, so if there are recurring mistakes I can correct, it's better to do so now rather than at the very end.**

 **La bise!**


	25. No cocaine in my samosa

"Have you ever seen her doing that?" Loki anxiously asked.

They were still walking away from where Morgan was seated, looking for another bunch of trees under which they could sit.

"Once." Som answered "But I did not actually see her. She needs complete silence, so she remained alone."

He was speaking Bengali, which Loki thought was quite a pretty language.

"Who did she spy on?"

"You really want to know? Then, let's make a deal: a truth against a truth. Ask me what you want and I ask you what I want."

Loki took a moment to think about it. He honestly did not trust Som as much as he trusted Morgan, but they visibly trusted each other like brother and sister. And he did not seem to have any intention to manipulate him. After all, he had risked his life as well during their expedition to retrieve the Book of the Cosmic Entities. Besides, he was as inquiring as Morgan was when they first met. A genuine curiosity, nothing more.

"Fine. So, first question: who did Morgan spy on?"

Som swallowed what was left of his beer.

"The Guardian of the Hong-Kong sanctuary. I had a personal grudge against this guy. The most arrogant Master of the Mystic Arts you can ever imagine. She maybe told you that she helped me stealing his teleportation ring when he came to Kathmandu... This is also why I offered her better brass-knuckles. She actually broke her former ones in order to fool the mage in making them look like his rings. I would have loved to see his face when he realized that!"

Loki chuckled. This was even better than what he imagined.

"My turn. If you were working for Thanos the whole time, during the attack on New-York, why have you not told anyone?"

The Asgardian tightened his fist. Here was one of the things he did not want to hear. Som knew where to hit, he had to recognize this.

"Alright, sensitive subject, sorry."

"How did you know that?"

"The Thanos thing? Well, sorry to see that you underestimate me. The Tesseract issue, then the Infinity Stones presented in the book from Kamar-Taj... Not difficult to deduce, in fact. And I have a very good memory."

Loki breathed heavily. He was right. What was the point, anyway?

"Imagine, then, how it feels." He muttered "Being defeated, chained, imprisoned, and then telling others that you were nothing more than a puppet, whose mind had been manipulated? I still have committed crimes, and I would still have served my sentence, with even more discredit than before."

"Quite logical indeed, from that perspective..."

No pity nor accusation in Som's tone. Just understanding. Loki's uneasiness was steadily decreasing.

"Another question?" He smiled.

But Loki was not listening. He could not help turning his head towards Morgan, already far away from them.

"I have good news and bad news." Som started.

"And I have no time for riddles."

"It is not one. The good news is that, if she takes time, your brother is alive. That is absolutely certain. Otherwise, she would know very quickly. The bad news is, she is probably watching him doing whatever he is doing, so we cannot know if it will take a long time or not. Most probably, it will."

Loki could not refrain a sigh of relief. Thor was alive. Alive. He smiled feebly. Of course. His older brother was the most resistant being he knew, even thrown into space, he could make it out alive. Invulnerable oaf.

"I presume things surely got better between you two." Som laughed.

"You can say so. Do you have a brother?"

"I do. A younger one. Deaf-mute, hence my incredibly useful knowledge of Indo-Pakistani sign language. But our relation remained... arduous."

"To the point where you tried to kill each other?" Loki taunted.

To his surprise, he saw Som losing his merry attitude for a few seconds.

"That makes two questions." He spoke.

Another tedious sibling relationship. They could soon create a club.

"Ask yours, then." The Asgardian calmly replied.

"What is your name?"

Oh, a familiar one.

"By the way, you did not tell me yours either."

"I am very much aware of that. And I am glad to see that Morgan always keeps secrets so well." Som laughed.

Time to test him, Loki thought. What would his reaction be, when he sees the truth he asked for? What did Midgardians do, when they saw monsters?

He had stopped considering himself as a monster, that was a fact. But that did not mean that others had done so.

"I can be Loki Odinson, of Asgard. Or I can be Loki Laufeyson, of Jotunheim."

He took back his Frost Giant appearance; blue skin, red eyes and thin lines across his face and arms.

"Wow." Som simply said.

He did not seem frightened at all. Curious and interested, for sure. Loki was confused. Morgan had assured him that Som had no power. He could not see life the way she did. Why, then, this so casual and almost cheerful tone?

"I sense that you kind of expected me to run away, screaming." He said, dubiously raising his eyebrows "After all we have been through with Morgan, do you think that _this_ is the most frightening thing I have seen in my life?"

"I did not expect you to be frightened. However, I thought that your perception would have changed." Loki admitted.

"Oh, I see. I am cheating, but I want to ask you another question: the name you _chose_ is Loki Odinson, right?"

"It is."

"Indeed, you do not seem to like the blue one much. As for me, the name I chose is Som Singh."

"Are you serious?"

"Dead-serious. Morgan loves to say that I am quite something." He laughed.

He sat on a fallen tree, under a eucalyptus. Shade, at last.

"This whole thing about being despised, spat on, even threatened... Apparently, the three of us are too familiar with it, for various reasons. I still don't know a lot about you and I won't try to ask for everything right now, but now is my turn to see if your perception will change."

"Go ahead. I doubt you will succeed." Loki smirked.

"Both of us combined cannot beat Morgan, but I have two names as well. Som Singh is the one I chose. And the one I was born with is Chandra Dey."

He paused. Loki's disorientation was clearly visible.

"I do not know anything about Midgardian names, so I do not see what you intend to mean."

"Right, I forgot. Chandra is only given to girls. To sum it up, I was born a girl and raised as one. The thing is, I never felt like one."

"Did you use magic, then? You can change your appearance?"

"Oh man, I wish it was so simple." He nervously laughed "No, not at all. It requires risky chirurgical interventions and putting chemicals in your body. Not funny, not pleasant and not easy, but I was ready to go through it. Let me tell you that people on Earth are quite cranky with what they call "transsexuals", and I really hate this word. In some countries, they are just disgustingly patronized, in some others, they risk their life. All of this to say, no matter what you do, there will always be individuals calling you "bloodthirsty blue monster", or calling Morgan "soul-destroying devil", or calling me "perverted transsexual demon". So, I stopped caring."

"And you lost your bet." Loki smiled.

"Which bet?"

"That I would change my perception. You still are the same pathetic Midgardian."

"Thank you, psychotic Asgardian."

At this moment, Loki was really glad that his plan to dominate the world had failed.

* * *

It was dark. Dark, ancient, and abandoned. Morgan was quite happy, in a way. She was fed up with white. Nevertheless, she had no idea where she was.

"Where are the dwarfs?" Someone said.

 _How could I know_ , she briefly thought, but she turned around and saw a group of three people she would only have dreamt of while on acid; a walleyed culturist, a talking racoon with a machine gun and a tree playing video games.

Of course.

Why not.

She was in Thor's mind, she recalled. She could see and hear what he saw and heard, but he could not detect her presence. He seemed well, for someone who had been thrown into space. Had he even... gained an eye?

She had no time asking herself further questions, since Thor received a huge metal bar on the head. The impact sent him right into a heap of debris. Morgan found herself in front of a gigantic being, whose hands had apparently been replaced by protheses.

"Eitri! It's Thor!" The Thunder god screamed.

Morgan carefully noted every single detail. She listened Thor explaining the situation to Eitri, who also had his share of horror when Thanos exterminated all his companions. Even though she had already seen him on videos, Morgan was impressed by how different Thor was from Loki. He was visibly a proud, even boastful person. His voice was authoritative, but also determined. He had no doubt about what he could do and what should be done. But when she saw what he was about to do, she wondered if he was not simply stupid.

"Do you understand? You are about to take the full force of a neutron star!" Eitri warned "It will kill you!"

"Only if I die!"

"Yes... That's what... killing you... means."

How could he still be alive, Morgan was truly amazed.

But she grew more amazed when he actually came out of the star alive. Dead-looking but not dead, because she was still with him.

"Where's the handle?!" Eitri was screaming "Tree, find the handle!"

Morgan saw the moving plant, he was Groot, dropping his video game and bravely lifting the axe that just came out of the forge, to suddenly cut his own arm. These creatures had guts, she could not deny it.

A few seconds later, she saw Thor's hand moving. Some sparkles formed around it, rapidly gaining intensity. What followed was the biggest lighting bolt she had ever seen, illuminating the entire forge, when Thor grabbed the handle of his new weapon. His power was breath-taking.

"Tree and rabbit, are you ready for the battle?" He loudly asked.

"Hell yeah!" The rabbit/racoon/whatever screamed.

"I am Groot!"

"I am coming, my friends!" The god of Thunder solemnly declared.

He raised his axe and a giant, bright light appeared around them. Morgan jumped back into her body.

* * *

"Okay, that's it, I'm done." Som sighed "I did not think that I would be more impressed by Morgan taming snakes, and now you tell me that you are talking to them. Have you thought about a name for your new taipan friend?"

"Not yet, actually. She never names her snakes."

They had been talking and saying nothing (but mostly talking) for almost an hour now, and Loki had come to the description of his now bifid-tongue-pet.

"May I suggest Julunggul? It is one of the many names Aborigines give to the Rainbow Serpent."

"We have a similar legend on Asgard. Jormungand is a gigantic snake circling the whole realm of Midgard."

"Or you can just call him Bobby."

Som stood up and stretched his arm above his head. It would soon be sunset. If someone, a couple of years ago, had told Loki that not only would he befriend with a Midgardian man, but also value a Midgardian woman's life more than his own, he would have laughed at this idiotic, insane, insulting idea. This reminded him of his own words to his brother.

" _Say goodbye. This day, the next, a hundred years, it is nothing! A heartbeat! You will never be ready."_

Now he knew how Thor felt. Not willing to think about this. Doing everything not to care.

"What is she, to you?"

Som was unbelievably discerning.

"I think you easily guessed the answer." Loki evasively said.

"Both of you are not eager to talk about sentiments, are you? I _guessed_ what she is to you, the same way I _guessed_ what you are to her, and all I see is a mess. You surely did not choose the easiest person in the world, and neither did she."

"What is your point?"

"My point is, you still have a lot to learn about her. I feel like I should give you a very important piece of advice."

"And what is it?" Loki sighed, half-annoyed, half-intrigued.

"She doesn't really enjoy cooking. But sometimes, without warning, she starts to make crepes, for no reason at all. If she ever mentions it... Say. Fucking. Yes."

Loki thought that he had come to a point where he could not be surprised with Som. He was wrong.

"What are… Crepes?"

"The most delicious pastry in the world."

"I thought it was chocolate eclairs."

"Oh, you have a lot to learn." Som laughed "Maybe we should take a look at her, though. It's been a while."

Loki could only agree. They almost ran towards Morgan, but she had not moved an inch; her eyes were still closed.

"I feel like she will soon come back." Som said.

As soon as he ended his sentence, Morgan brusquely opened her eyes, which almost made him jump out of surprise.

"How are you feeling?" The Asgardian asked.

She did not answer right away, busy slowing down her jolting respiration.

"That was... eventful..." She started "Your brother... is safe and sound... I saw him in a space forge... with a racoon, a tree and a huge dwarf... and he has a giant axe now... which apparently shoots rainbows... so bright that it brought me back here..."

"I swear there is no cocaine in my samosa, but you really sound high."

"Thor is on Nidavellir..." Loki muttered "Do you remember the name of this dwarf?"

"He said he was Eitri. He was the one who crafted Thanos' Gauntlet, which can withstand the power of the six Infinity Stones. To thank him, Thanos killed his friends and cut his hands off."

"What a charming fellow..." Som sighed.

"Thor helped him forging a weapon that could apparently defeat Thanos. An axe called Storm-breaker."

"And it can summon the Bifrost?" Loki incredulously asked.

"Apparently. He must have left Nidavellir by now, heading wherever Thanos is."

Loki helped Morgan standing up. Ironically, he was the one feeling on the verge of collapsing. He had spent _so much time_ wondering what had become of his brother, and now he just learnt that he came out of this umpteenth ordeal stronger than ever. He was at the same time relieved and anxious again. Thor was used to run head-on towards danger. If Thanos managed to get his hand on all the Stones, would Storm-breaker be enough to stop him?

"Morgan, Loki." Som called "I think we may have a clue about that."

They came where he was standing, up a rocky hill, from where they could see Coober Pedy. Clearly, there was something wrong. People were running towards the Underground Motel and feverishly checking their phones.

"We would better go and see."

* * *

 **Shit's getting real. Infinity War happens on a very short period of time, so I'm not re-writing the movie, but I feel up for the challenge of "how to defeat Thanos after the battle". So, regarding the hidden clue, Som's birthday is on April 25th, and two days later Morgan and Loki get out of Whatever-its-name, on April 27th, the day Infinity War came out.**

 **Concerning the passage where Loki evokes Jormungand, I do not include Loki's mythological children in this story (I mean, I will mention them but in different ways). Also, sorry for those who expected Som to break his empty bottle on Loki's head. He rather prefers to live. Plus, he says he likes his samosa so he shouldn't be such a bad person, right?**


	26. You will never be a god

At least forty people were grouped in the Underground Motel. The owner had apparently fixed his television, which was showing the worst of the worst-case scenario they could ever think about.

"An attack above New York... Tony Stark missing..."

"A similar attack in Scotland..."

"Their objectives are unknown, but this is not without reminding the assault of the Chitauris aliens six years ago, led by the war criminal Loki..."

Morgan frowned when they broadcasted some old footages, first in Germany, then on top of the Stark Tower. She and Som simultaneously turned their head towards him.

Towards the tall blond man with a moustache, who looked like everyone but Loki. Despite the tension, Morgan could not refrain a smile, while Som's jaw dropped open.

"Special updates about this alien threat!" The journalist suddenly exclaimed "Numerous ships have been spotted around the African nation of Wakanda, which very recently opened its borders to the rest of the world. For now, we are unable to receive more details about their movements, but what seems like an immense thunderstorm has just started above Wakanda forest..."

That was enough for them to hear. Morgan rapidly got out of the motel. She felt more anxious than ever. The threat had never been so close and so sudden.

"If Thanos was here, I would have felt it..." She nervously said.

"He probably sent his children..." Loki winced "Now, I know where Thor is."

Morgan rapidly opened the car and seized the Vibranium knuckle-duster, as well as her now sharpened hunting knife. She cautiously took off the lids of the four boxes and freed the snakes inside. Giving them to the Adelaide Hospital was the last of her concerns now. Strangely, the taipan was quite reluctant to leave.

"Should we take Bobby with us?" Som questioned, while checking his weapon.

"Is that a grenade?!" Morgan incredulously asked.

"I did not want to bring it to Nepal, but I have no remorse killing someone who wants to kill me."

"Are you seriously thinking about fighting?" Loki said.

"Hey, don't start with the stay-safe-here-while-I-save-the-world speech!" Som exclaimed "Statistically, I have one chance out of two to die very soon. And could you please quit that blond guy appearance?"

Loki waved his hand and Fandral's face disappeared in a flash of green. He carefully picked up the inland taipan, who crawled on his shoulder.

"I was not about to say anything like that." He said "I just want you to know that no one of us stands a chance against Thanos."

"True. However, I have tricked an Infinity Stone." Morgan smiled "Som has tricked one of the Sanctuary Keepers. And you have tricked Whatever-its-name. I think the three of us combined have a chance to trick a mad purple alien."

"Fair point." Loki smiled.

This feeling was completely new to him. It was not the same thing than with Thor, Valkyrie and the Hulk, when they defended Asgard. This time, he _knew_ that he could count on them and that they could count on him.

"Oh man, I am really not comfortable with saving the world." Som shivered.

The feeling was mutual.

* * *

"Is this Wakanda?" Loki asked "It does not look like a battlefield."

"We are in Nakuru, Kenya. This is the closest I can get to Wakanda, I have never been there myself." Som explained.

"How long before we reach it?"

"I would say, thirty minutes by car. It should not be difficult to take one."

They were walking fast, almost running (at least Morgan was). People around them were anxiously watching every television screen they could get their eyes on, but most of them were running away, and it was not difficult to know from what. The alien spaceships, surrounded by thunderstorms, were extremely close to the city. Everyone was confused. People were casting frightened glances at them.

"You would better take back your other appearance." Morgan warned "They are currently reminded of your existence, and not in the most pleasant way."

"And, for Manasa's sake, take this snake out of your shoulder." Som laughed.

Right, Loki thought. He had spent so much time with these two exceptional humans that he had almost forgotten how easily Midgardians could be frightened.

"Do you at least know how to use your weapon?"

"I would even say that I am _badass_."

Screams echoed around them when the space ships suddenly exploded, struck by thunder.

"My brother seems to handle it quite well." Loki smirked.

"I hope so. No one is looking, I think we can take this car over there."

Som crossed the road, and Loki turned around to wait for Morgan.

He immediately saw that something was not right.

She was standing a few feet behind him, motionless, her hands on her head. But what suddenly alarmed him was her look.

He had never seen her so terrified.

"Morgan, what is happening? Is it Thanos? Do you see him?"

"He is here... He has arrived... Just right now..." She muttered "And the... And the Soul Stone..."

Loki felt a gaping fear in his veins. Morgan was trembling.

"The... The head...?" She muttered.

"What?"

* * *

A few kilometres away, Thanos snapped his fingers.

* * *

Everything happened like in a dream. Morgan had never felt such an intense fear. Even when meeting the Soul Stone.

She saw ashes.

Loki, who had taken back his appearance, slowly stood up and looked at the people around him turning into dust. He was as lost as her.

Morgan could not think correctly. It was wrong. It was wrong. It was...

She dashed towards the other side of the road, avoiding the cars and the panicked pedestrians, running as fast as she could.

"M-Morgan? W-what's happening?"

"SOM!"

She rushed to grab his hand, but, as she was about to do so, she only touched ashes.

Ashes?

Som was...

Som had...

Morgan was still standing, unable to move. She was disconnected. Everyone around her was screaming in distress, yet she could not make a sound.

She heard Loki's voice, but could not answer him.

Because the pain was coming.

* * *

It started like the migraine she knew very well, the one she had for five minutes when she spent too much time in Whatever-its-name, or for a couple of hours when she had to deliver a mental shockwave. But it grew. And grew. It became a terrible flame, and then it turned into Hell itself.

Fire. Burning pain, blistering pain, blinding pain. Her whole body was burning and would soon turn into ashes.

Ashes. Only ashes around her. It was too much, too much at the same time.

It was wrong. Too much pain. She could not even scream.

Her vision was blurry. She did not know where she was. She was not safe. She would never be safe.

 _I have to get out._

It was the only thing that mattered at the moment. Getting out. No one should be able to trap her.

Suddenly, she felt a hand clenching her right arm and panic rose in her chest.

"Get off me!" She roared.

Her head was hurting so much. So much. She could not fight. All she could do was running away. But the hand would not let her.

"It is me, Loki."

A voice. Too close.

"No! Get off me!" She shouted again, struggling with all her might to escape the hand.

She felt blood running on her face, from her nose and her ears. Her head was going to explode. Her feet would not support her for long. And she was trapped.

In a desperate attempt to get free from the hand, she bit it. No taste of blood in her mouth but an exclamation of surprise and a loosening of the grip. That was enough for her to run.

Run away. That was what she always did and would always do. She was fast. But all her body hurt. She heard someone else catching up on her and fear sparked adrenaline in her legs.

But the hand caught her again.

"GET OFF ME!"

Her scream was pure terror. She stumbled.

"Morgan, I will not hurt you!"

Same voice as earlier. Everything was burning to ashes. It hurt.

She gladly welcomed unconsciousness.

* * *

Ironically, unconsciousness proved to be even worse.

Morgan felt herself drowning in ashes. She could not refrain spasms of disgust when she felt them against her nose, her ears and even her eyes.

It was wrong, it was wrong, it was wrong...

She could not get this sentence out of her head. Ashes were wrong. Too much ashes at the same time. Too many deaths at the same time.

Morgan was drowning in death.

" _Is this how I die?"_

She could not stay here. She could not stay under the ashes. She had to stand.

 _Come on. Stand._

But why? Why standing? There was nothing to save.

 _Som is gone._

What could she do, now? What could she do when everything was already lost?

 _Observe._

She had to observe. She had to open her eyes to see, her ears to hear, her mouth to breathe.

She stood up.

* * *

It was... peaceful.

No more ashes. No more pain. The place was beautiful.

Morgan was standing in the middle of a flower field. She put her hands on her face and did not feel any wound.

The sun was setting.

Alright, maybe she was dead. Nice. She would not suffer anymore.

Someone over there. She was not alone, then.

Morgan tranquilly walked across the field. Wild flowers. Something like poppies. She felt peaceful. No ashes outside, no pain inside.

She saw him.

He was sit on the porch of his house, which reminded her of the Outback wooden cabin, and was watching the sunset, a nostalgic smile on his face.

He was very tall, incredibly muscular, and had purple skin. He also had a wide wound on his torso, but the bleeding had stopped. He did not seem to feel any pain either.

Morgan was not afraid. As always, she was curious. She observed.

The thing was, he spoke to her.

"Hello, little one."

His voice was deep. Not surprising at all.

"Hello." She answered "May I sit?"

The Titan's gaze was still fixed on the setting sun, as if he did not want to lose one drop of it.

"You may. I have heard a lot about you."

"So have I." Morgan chuckled "The least I can say is that you are not overwhelmingly praised."

She sat on the other side of the porch, barely four metres away from him, and took another look at the sun. The colours were magnificent.

"It is painful, for now." He began "But pain will fade. And, out of the balance I established, peace will emerge. The peace everyone deserves."

Morgan swallowed with difficulty. He was not so different from what she expected.

"Does pain really fade?" She inquired.

For the first time since they engaged conversation, Thanos turned his head towards her.

"No. Pain just evolves. It either rots and poisons you, or blossoms. Like these."

He pointed the flowers.

"Have you ever been to Earth? I mean, before you annihilated half of humans?" She questioned.

"Earth was already on its way to annihilation way before I decided to prevent this."

"It did not seem painful at all, for those who turned into dust. They just ceased to exist. Like that. Snap."

"There are more painful ways to die." Thanos grinned.

"Indeed. You know that too well. However, I have felt every single breath you took. I was buried under the ashes if your victims."

"I am sorry you had to come through this, little one."

Morgan wanted to have a physical body, just to rummage a little in the ground. Or to pick a poppy.

"Is your duty over, then?"

"I have found peace in my pain. You should do the same. Do not waste this life of yours."

"I still think that your concept of saving humanity is the most stupid I have ever heard." Morgan smiled.

Thanos gave her a long look.

"The Soul Stone remembers you."

"Not for the better, I presume." She laughed.

"Out of the countless bearers it created, you stand out, little one."

"Flattery has never worked with me. Sorry."

"It offered you wisdom and you refused it."

"I took what I wanted, nothing more. Wisdom should never be imposed, and it goes for salvation as well. The survivors have all lost someone. Family, friends... Pain never fades. And, because humans are what they are, they will come up with incredible innovations to improve their life. Along with their side-effects of suffering and destruction. In the long-term, you made no difference at all."

"It is a shame to see that you have no hope left in you." Thanos sighed.

He really seemed sorry for her. Morgan turned her head to examine the inside of the cabin. There was not much to see, except for the giant, half-destroyed Gauntlet, with six shining stones on it.

She immediately knew which one it was. The gleaming orange colour was hypnotizing.

"Infinite power..." She muttered "Over space, time, energy, reality, mind and soul. You controlled all of this and you used it to turn half of the Universe into ashes. This is laughable. But not so illogical."

"You surely are an arrogant human."

"Absolutely. Destruction is so much easier than creation. Maybe you could have created enough resources for all humanity, but the thing is, wiping out half of it was just simpler. The same way killing is easier than forgiving."

Thanos stood up and started to walk across the poppy field. Morgan followed him. She spotted a scarecrow in the middle of a crop field, dressed in armour. That detail made her smile. She wondered if such a connection was possible between all those who had encountered the Soul Stone. Perhaps the only way to know was to ask the Stone directly. But the Gauntlet made that hard.

"Have you ever forgiven someone you wanted to kill, little one?"

Morgan suddenly felt very small.

 _I am the one who killed your daughter._

 _You are the real monster._

 _I killed you, remember? And I can kill you again._

"No." She muttered "I did not even think about forgiveness."

"I do not blame you. I did the same. Something had to be done, at this very moment. Every other option would only have worsened humanity's condition."

"Life is not only about resources. Humans always find ways to be sad when having everything, and happy when having nothing. There is no "threshold" of what makes a good or a bad life. There is just life. That is all. And you claim to have saved life by ending it."

Thanos had stopped, right in the middle of the field. He cast a severe glance at her.

"Don't you believe in anything, little one? Don't you hope for a better future? I have lived a very long time. I have seen countless horrors and marvels. I have done terrible things, to ultimately give humanity a chance."

"Hm. You did it. You are the most powerful being of this Universe, and you gave it a chance. You were a warrior in crusade and now you have achieved your holy task. You think yourself a god, but you will never be one."

She saw an ironical grin on Thanos' face.

"Funny that you say so... Someone told me the same thing, not so long ago. He called himself a god but was small and afraid."

"Well, I am small and afraid too." Morgan shrugged.

"The night is falling. Go home, if you are afraid of the dark."

"I am not going home, I am going out. My friend turned into dust in my hands. I will come back. And I will kill you."

"How do your people call you, little one?"

"You can call me Adder. How do you call this place?"

"You can call it the Scarecrow Planet. You can come at any time. I hope you will not, though. Killing you would be disappointing."

"Everything seems disappointing, to you." Morgan sneered "You should have fun once, before you die."

* * *

Suggested end song: _Jimmy_ , Moriarty.


	27. See everything

Morgan was diving back into pain and ashes. It was a terrible sensation, after the calm and quiet atmosphere of the flower field under the setting sun. Now, there was only agony and ugliness.

 _I am small and afraid too._

She was. But she was many other things as well. Yet, she needed something more precise to guide her through this terrifying sea of ashes.

" _Be happy with that non-physical form of yours, otherwise you would regret your words!"_

" _You are still an amateur when it comes to talking."_

Alright, she was clinging to every memory of him she could find. Even the ones where he was just an annoying jerk.

" _Come and see, Morgan."_

" _This is proper madness."_

Better. Crazy ideas all the time. Ironically, chaotic memories were the only thing preventing her drowning.

" _I am not going anywhere without you."_

Neither did she. She had to get out, otherwise she would fail her promise. She had to breathe. But this was so scary. She would only inhale ashes, then suffocate, then lose the fragile track of her memories...

But she had to do something, anyway. So, she opened her eyes and took a deep breath.

Blue sky. Terrible headache. A body against hers. What was going on?

Morgan found it hard to slow down her respiration. She felt something moist on her nose and ears and realized that it was her own blood. She wanted to move or to speak but her body refused to obey and her throat was too dry. Everything was painful and exhausting.

"Morgan?"

She saw him. Loki. He was holding her against him, probably afraid to see her turning into dust. For now, all she could do was breathing. Her voice would come back later.

"Can you hear me?" He finally asked.

She managed to nod weakly. Her head was still hurting beyond reason. She looked around and saw an apocalyptic landscape. Some people were in complete shock, standing in the middle of the street. Some others were screaming in fear, desperately looking for a way out of this nightmare. There were shouts of pain and distress all around. Morgan looked at her hands. They were covered in ashes.

Her body tensed brutally, almost like an animal reflex, but Loki maintained her firmly against him. She was trembling with fear.

"Loki?" She painfully managed to say.

"I am here."

"Som is gone."

It was not a question. She had felt half of the world population vanishing. And she had her friend's ashes on her hands. More than enough for her to burst into tears.

* * *

They had lost the war before even waging it.

He had never seen Morgan so desperate. Her body was too small to contain the immensity of her sorrow. Although she desperately wanted to, her sobs were so violent that she could not even scream. Loki was slowly stroking her back, the way she did for him not so long ago. He had tears in his eyes. Tears of real sadness, for the friend he had lost, for the brother he could not bear to lose again, and for the woman he was holding, whom he had seen collapsing and screaming with more pain than he could ever conceive, while everyone around was turning to dust.

Everything was already over. Thanos had won. Loki could not believe how sudden and violent it had been.

He suddenly heard a loud screech of tyres and turned his head on time to see a car dashing towards them. Loki stopped it with his right arm, the left one still holding Morgan. The impact destroyed the front of the vehicle. No one was inside, of course. A much louder noise followed. The Asgardian raised his head towards the sky and saw a plane falling, a few kilometres away. How devastating the snap was... The consequences of half of humanity being wiped out was an even larger amount of deaths.

"Brother... You better be alive." He mumbled.

But now was not the time to mourn. Loki rose up, carefully holding Morgan, who had fallen back into unconsciousness. They were not safe here. He needed to find a place where she could rest. And then...

And then, he had no idea what to do. He felt like there was no place in the entire universe where he could be safe.

* * *

Morgan had always liked to dream. She could remember her dreams very vividly, even sometimes control them, which always was an enjoyable experience. However, today was the most terrible exception she could think about. She was walking into a field of flowers, and each one her feet touched was turning to ashes. She saw Loki in front of her, who wanted to speak but only coughed blood instead. And then, she saw Vivian, who had grown into a woman her age, with the same blond hair and kind smile on her face, and who tried to hug her. But Morgan did not want to. She dreaded her sister's touch. Yet, Vivian wrapped her arms around her and opened her mouth, to reveal snake fangs, and she screamed...

A blissfully cold hand on her forehead. Complete silence.

Where was she?

Memories came back brutally, almost painfully. She opened her eyes and saw Loki next to her. He was paler than ever.

"How are you feeling?" He whispered.

"Absolutely... terrible. What is... this place?"

Her voice was hoarse, her throat still hurting badly.

"You remained unconscious for a long time. You had a fever. There was no one in this house."

Morgan nodded. Little heaps of ashes were probably scattered around the place. It was a small house. She was laying on a sofa, in the middle of a room also containing a kitchen, a pile of mattresses, a large television and countless other objects.

There was absolutely no noise coming from the street. That was the sound of the entire world in shock.

"I wonder where he found it..." Morgan muttered.

"Where who found what?"

"Thanos. The Soul Stone. I wonder where its physical form was hidden."

Loki sighed heavily. He was sat close to the couch, his hand still on her forehead. Morgan's fever had not completely decreased.

"He has them all, now." The Asgardian hissed "He is the most powerful being in the universe. We do not stand a chance against him."

Morgan was focusing on methodically moving her hands, then her feet. At least, no paralysis at sight.

"I spoke with him."

She did not wait for his reaction to tell him about their encounter. She described the Infinity Gauntlet, the mysterious Scarecrow Planet, and most of all, the Titan's unshakable conviction, which made him so dangerous.

"So, you are the Adder now. It suits you."

Morgan cautiously sat on the floor, with her back against the couch, next to him.

"I really don't know what we can do." She confessed "And yet, I refuse the life he imposed to us."

"Following orders is not in our nature."

Morgan rested her head against the sofa. She grabbed the Vibranium knuckle-duster. It was shining under the dim evening light.

"Maybe the Soul Stone has satisfied its craving, for now. But it will want more. And more. It will never be truly satiated."

"The Soul World..." Loki thought out-loud.

"Sorry?"

"It was mentioned in the Book of the Cosmic Entities. A world within the Soul Stone. A world of souls."

They looked at each other in shock. The more insane it was, the more they wished to believe it.

"Perhaps..." Loki began "Perhaps the so-called "snap" was actually more of a "swap". In the Universe we live in, conscience can only be killed when the body is killed. Perhaps the Soul World stands as the exact opposite."

"Therefore, the body would lie within the conscience. Which would mean that there is still _something_ left from them, hidden _somewhere_." Morgan completed.

What is possible? Could they really envision a glimmer of hope?

"Nothing about all of this makes sense." Loki observed "I look forward to making it even more confusing."

"We might die. Painfully. Excruciatingly. And we might not save anyone." Morgan pointed out.

"Are you afraid to die?"

"Of course. I want to live. But I am sick and tired of this mad purple giant telling me how to live."

"Both of us represent everything he hates." Loki chuckled "Chaos against balance. Nonsense against order."

Morgan leaned towards him and her lips met his. There was sadness, sorrow and grief in this kiss. The two of them knew how afraid and powerless they could be. But there was strength in this certainty.

"I really cannot believe that I am about to say that..." Loki smiled "But if we are not able to save the universe, we might as well avenge it."

* * *

It had been more than four hours of steady walk across the rainforest. After making sure that her fever was gone, Morgan had grabbed her weapons and some water, then she and Loki had departed for Wakanda, which was really not difficult to find. All they needed to do was going towards the giant smoking spaceships.

Morgan was quite used to long walks. Her wanderings in Australia, as well as in other hostile countries beforehand, had provided her with a solid physical endurance and resistance. The sun was raising. She had no idea about what Wakanda looked like, nor about what remained of the Avengers.

"We are on the right direction." She said.

The cause of her sentence was a very large metal piece, undeniably coming from one of the ships. As she kept of walking, Morgan encountered more and more of them. They were obviously made from some components that did not exist on Earth.

A few minutes later, she came across something of different nature.

"Ugh... This is repugnant."

She hardly refrained a spasm of disgust at the sight of the alien carcass, already covered by flies.

"These are not Chitauris, are they?"

"No." Loki confirmed, on the same sickened tone "They are called Outriders. Contrary to the Chitauris, which are a cybernetically-enhanced specie harbouring a hive-mind intelligence, those beasts are mindless, only used to butcher and devastate."

They were now surrounded by corpses. At least two meters tall, with four arms, sometimes six, and impressive teeth. The amounts of insects feasting on them was making the picture even more putrid.

"Cherry on the cake: we are followed." Morgan suddenly declared.

"A surviving Outrider?"

"No. Human. I cannot be sure if he is really following us or just going into the same direction. For now, I would not consider it a real threat."

They carried on, even more attentive to any coming sound or movements. Morgan was walking with her hand over her mouth, doing her best not to throw up. The smell of the decomposing cadavers was unbearable. She was holding her knife so tight that her knuckles were becoming white.

"He is getting closer... Woah!"

Something violently grabbed her ankle, making her lose her balance. Morgan fell on her back, finding herself right in front of an actual _half_ -Outrider, jaws wide open. A second later, Morgan sent a mental blast that annihilated what remained of the creature's life. It was easier to kill than she expected. But it was not what surprised her the most. The Outrider would have actually died without her intervention, thanks to the arrow now stuck in his head.

"Morgan..." Loki began.

"Do not intervene, please." She advised.

She was cursing her own stupidity. Staying entirely focused on their mysterious follower had made her neglecting other surrounding threats. Now was not the time to be careless.

"I didn't expect to see someone else taking a walk around some rotting alien corpses." The man said.

Morgan turned her gaze on her left, from where the arrow came, and saw him coming from behind a tree, on top of a small hill. Despite not being very young, he was undeniably a robust man, whom she would not even think about challenging in hand-to-hand combat. His chestnut hair was cut short on both sides of his head. He was wearing a black outfit, with kneepads and shin guards, and was still holding the long, thin bow he had just used.

"You are Hawkeye. Are you not supposed to see everything?"

He emitted a sarcastic laugh. She was astonished by the colossal number of weapons he was carrying. Apart from the bow and impressive stock of arrows, Morgan spotted several little Japanese throwing-knives called _shuriken_ , as well as a two-parts flail, a _nunchaku_.

"Right now, I see a weird woman who certainly isn't from Wakanda, nor from any of the surrounding countries, but is heading towards it anyway. And I see that she carries a snake on her shoulders. Enough for me to ask: who the hell are you?"

Morgan smiled shrewdly and her eyes turned golden.

* * *

 **Suggested end song: Jeremy Renner, _I've got powers, too_. **


	28. An adder with a taipan

"I wonder where Bobby went."

"Could you please stop with that name? It is utterly ridiculous." Loki sighed.

However, he also wondered where the inland taipan had gone. From what Morgan had told him, this type of snake only existed in Australia, thus the inhabitants of Nakuru, Kenya, might be slightly disoriented when stumbling upon it. That being said, everyone had had more than his share of disorientation for several lifetimes, when seeing half of the people around turning to dust.

A few hours before their departure, Morgan and Loki were eating what they had found in the house, a slow-cooked beef stew with some collard greens. They did not talk much. Understandably, they had a lot to think about. Morgan was examining the grenade. Som had dropped it on the ground right before disappearing and Loki had brought it with him, not really knowing whether or not she was able to use it. Considering the look on her face, the chances were rather low. As for Loki, "preoccupied" was an insulting understatement, to describe his state of mind. How would he manage to speak a word in front of anyone else than his brother, before the aforesaid anyone tried to shoot him (with doubtlessly no chance of success but reducing its opportunity to be properly understood)? Maybe Bruce Banner would be of help, which was quite ironical. He had already kind of worked with him. Well, he mostly worked with Thor, but the green beast did not attack him, which was a very, very convenient evolution.

"Are you thinking about a plan?" Morgan asked, while finishing her plate.

"I would like to. Unfortunately, I am focusing on how to make my brother believe that I am actually not dead for the _third time_. He would probably think that I am some kind of illusion sent by Thanos, or even created by you, and I cannot blame him for that."

"No one will believe a single word of pretty much everything we have been through." She sighed "Which is why we simply cannot tell the entire story."

"We need a well-shaped lie." Loki smirked.

Not as if he did not know how to lie. The question was, what to hide and what to reveal? What had to be unveiled and what had to stay invisible?

Invisible.

Loki stayed perfectly immobile for a handful of seconds, picturing the full meaning of this term. Words are power, for ever and ever.

"You have an idea in mind." Morgan observed "And I hope it is a crazy one."

"We might need to invent another expression to describe how crazy it is."

He leaned back on the couch. He had barely touched the food and had not slept for days. He did not care.

"Everyone thinks that I am dead." He began "The Avengers do. My brother does. Thanos does. And, thanks to your ability, no one can possibly find out that I am alive, unless I stand right in front of them."

"Crystal clear, for now."

Loki rose up and began to walk around the house.

"If we are to confront Thanos, we must envision the worst-case scenario, and suppose that he had come to fully master each Infinity Stone, which powers were explained in the Book of Cosmic Entities. Thus, he should be able to bend souls and read minds. From what you told me about your encounter, he did not seem able to read yours."

"I have no guarantee that he actually tried." Morgan pointed out.

"One way or another, he attempted it. If he has a connection with the Stones, wearing the Gauntlet or not, he will use their power. Thanos is obsessed by order and control. He cannot bear ignoring a potential threat."

"True..." She frowned "Nevertheless, he is doubtlessly aware of my existence. And I explicitly told that I would be coming for him, in the flesh."

"You did. But I did not. I am still invisible to everyone. You are the only being who is aware of my existence, but he cannot guess it from you."

"Wait... If I understand correctly... Your plan is to use the greatest surprise effect of all times?"

"And spaces."

"Whatever. Are you talking about not telling anything to the Avengers, until you find yourself right in front of Thanos?"

"More or less."

"This is insane. There are a hundred different ways for your plan to fail."

"Which is why it must work." He concluded.

Morgan stayed speechless for a moment, analysing every implication of Loki's idea.

"It will not be that hard. That is definitely not what heroes do. I will be called a traitor. You will be called a coward. Fortunately, I do not give a damn."

"And we are not heroes. Lucky we." Loki sneered.

"But how will you proceed to remain invisible all this time? Can you hide the sounds you make as well? Can you manage to escape cameras?" She inquired.

"Lies may be about hiding. But they are also about deformation. Or rather, transformation."

His green irises turned black, surrounded by orange, exactly like an inland taipan's eyes.

"But if you ever call me Bobby, my revenge will be merciless."

* * *

Loki did not tend to invoke fate, to justify one's actions. Still, he could not help wondering if it was agent Clint Barton's fate to undergo mental manipulation.

However, it was hard to describe Morgan's powers as manipulation. She could not read nor disturb thoughts, but influence emotions, be it anger or sadness, fear or joy. Or confidence.

"I am not a threat to you, Hawkeye." She distinctively spoke "On the contrary, I want to offer my help to the Avengers."

"Your help..." He sighed "What sort of help could you possibly offer?"

He put his bow back in place and crossed the last meters separating them. He did not seem bothered at all by the atrocious stench. Loki, still settled on Morgan's shoulders, took a longer look at him. It was not the same man he had so easily controlled, years ago. A powerful inner strength emanated from him. He seemed wiser, but not only due to age. He had visibly come through some terrible hardships. Of all the Avengers, Barton was the one whose resistance Loki respected the most. He could not turn into an invulnerable, raging beast, nor was he physically, or mechanically, enhanced. All he had were breath-taking shooting skills and an iron will. Contrary to Thor, or Stark, or the righteous Captain, he was very much aware of his weaknesses, which only made him more alert.

"Only a handful of individuals in the world have a clue of what is going on, and I am one of them. Like you, I have a sharp-eye. Just a different kind of eye."

"Yeah, I see that... Otherwise you would've been at least a little surprised to see me. The thing is, I'm not with the Avengers anymore. No need to call me Hawkeye."

"Why are you coming to them, then?"

"Same reason as yours. They need all the help they can get. And I've got some serious avenging in mind."

Despite Barton's remarkable emotional control, Loki had no difficulty spotting the anger and sadness in his tone.

"So have I. How long has it been, since... the ashes?"

"Two days. Will you tell me why the fuck you carry a snake with you?"

"You fight with a bow, I fight with a snake. Among other things. You can call him Taipan, if you want."

"You know, I don't care much, as long as it only bites the ones I want to see dead. Guess I should've been more shocked to see you here and now, but after all that happened, I don't care about anything, really."

They were now walking side by side. Barton's pace was steady and energetic, but Morgan was keeping up quite well. The way she "eased" his trust was impressively cunning, Loki noted. She did not bluntly force his emotions, on the contrary, she gradually induced some hints of confidence in each of her sentences. She changed her attitude, making herself both reliable and determined. In short, everything a man like agent Barton would like to find in such a desperate situation.

"I presume you had a mean to contact the Avengers, if you directly came to them." Morgan started.

"Yes, I did. And, frankly, it was not hard to guess where they are. But I can't know who's still alive, by now."

He escalated a rock and stretched his hand to help Morgan. Loki noticed that he did so in order to check the weapons she was carrying. Of course. The archer never missed any detail.

"A snake, a grenade, a hunting knife and a knuckle-duster. Not bad. Right, I forgot the sharp eyes." He sarcastically teased.

"Not as if you weren't eclectic as well. Shuriken, nunchaku, a bow and more arrows than I can count. If Hawkeye is no more, who did you become?"

"You've heard about _ronins_?"

"I have. Kind of samurais without master nor home, wandering across feudal Japan."

"Sums me up well. What about you, snake lady?"

"Adder is enough."

"Because you bite?"

"And I am hard to catch."

"I bet you are." Barton laughed.

Loki did not know what ronins where, though he remembered Morgan briefly telling him about this country called Japan, but he was reflecting on what the former SHIELD agent had just acknowledged. _Without master nor home._ When he was under his control, he had told him everything about the other Avengers, but also about himself, in order for Loki to make the most of any possible weakness. He could have very well managed to threaten his family, whose existence Barton reluctantly divulgated. But he had no intention of using his wife and children against him. If he wanted to see the Avengers dead, he had no interest in their relatives. Thanos, on the other hand, displayed no such principles.

Barton and Morgan continued to walk silently. The forest was half-destroyed by the aliens and their wrecked ships, which ironically made their progression easier.

"Ever been in a fight before?" The archer asked, although his tone indicated that he had already guessed the answer.

"Not this kind." Morgan admitted.

"This kind is actually easier than any other fight. You don't have to bother about moral law, when you see such beasts running towards you."

"I suppose."

Morgan was not a soldier like Barton. More of a spy, or an assassin, if she could be compared to anything of that sort. When she killed, it was quick, methodical, professional. It was the same for Loki. Very much like snakes, indeed.

"Be careful if you encounter Romanov." He told Morgan "Of all the Avengers, she is the expert in terms of manipulation."

He just heard about it, of course. Himself would never fall into her trap. Absolutely.

Morgan made a slight nod, almost imperceptible. The same way Loki could transfer his memories, he could mentally communicate with her. It was not really telepathy, as he was not able to read her thoughts.

"What the hell..." Barton muttered.

"Are these... Wheels?" Morgan winced.

Giant wheels, indeed. They had finally gotten out of the forest and were facing vast plains, with an even greater number of corpses, which presently included humans. Actually, human limbs. Most of them in the mouths of Outriders. In the middle of the battlefield were a dozen of enormous disks covered with pikes, themselves covered with red mash.

This time, even Barton seemed nauseous, and Morgan had gone beyond her limits a long time ago.

"Excuse me for a second." She managed to say.

Loki quickly understood and slid from her arm to the ground, then she staggered towards the bushes to throw up. The Asgardian-now-taipan met the archer's gaze and playfully hissed, amused to see him taking a step backwards, just in case.

"How did you manage to domesticate a snake? And isn't it the most venomous in the world?"

"It is. But, since we are surrounded by what is left of an alien army in a country which, a few months ago, was hidden from the rest of the world, my story would seem boring to you. Now, how do we pass through this forcefield?"

Both of them had spotted the slight variations of light that indicated what was supposed to be an invisible limit, marking the border of Wakanda.

"We just wait. Someone will come to us." Barton assured, taking a look at a device which Loki was perfectly unable to define.

"Can they track your position?"

"If I allow them to do so."

Indeed, some kind of hovercraft was coming right at them. On it were a handful of Wakandan soldiers, and in the middle were standing two individuals whom the god of Mischief knew too well.

* * *

"Clint." Was Natasha Romanov's only sentence.

"Hey, Nat".

Both of them were in each other's arms as soon as she had gotten down of the vehicle. This short but intense embrace immediately reminded Morgan the one she had with Som when they finally met again. She perceived the very same kind of powerful friendship, the one that did not need words to express itself.

Black Widow was not really different from the last official images she had seen of her. Her hair had gone from red to blond, but that was about it. She was wearing a black combat suit, with two truncheons in her back. However, captain Steve Rogers was definitely not the man Morgan was expecting to see. He was not wearing his iconic blue and red suit (which, at least to her opinion, had the only merit of turning him into a giant target) and, most importantly, he had lost his proud and confident face. The man she faced was tired and frightened. Even more. The man she faced had lost. He had visibly never experienced defeat before. And such a defeat was hard to bear.

"It's good to see you, Clint." He said, putting a hand on the archer's shoulder "How is..."

He stopped. The usual sentence, Morgan deduced, the one he would always say, even in times of war. _How is your family?_ But this war was different. This war was over and there were victims.

"Gone." The archer simply said "Who is left, here?"

Only at this moment did Rogers and Romanov seem to notice Morgan, who politely nodded to salute them.

"Who is she?" The former Russian spy deliberately asked Clint.

"Some help we might need. But if you want to have a chat, let's do it away from this battlefield."

Gladly, Morgan thought. No one prevented her from getting into the hovercraft. Then, one glance at her from Romanov was enough. Loki had warned her that she would probably be the hardest to handle, so she might as well take immediate precautions. She readily met her eyes and induced the same feelings than with Barton.

 _Confidence. Trust. No need to ask further questions. Only here to help, that is all._

Surely, she would have to do it several times. Morgan displayed this curious combination of arrogance and prudence. She never underestimated anyone. The fact was, she could always be aware of every potential threat to her. Ironically, she had one of the biggest threats to the Avengers currently resting on her shoulders.

Loki did not seem very pleased, which was understandable. He definitely preferred to show-off, even too much, than to hide. However, this would not be of any help, even counterproductive, against Thanos.

"You really meet some strange people on your way." Rogers said to Barton, before turning his eyes to her.

"She is an adder with a taipan." The archer scoffed.

"Well said." Morgan smiled.

"No more enigmatic revelations for today." Romanov sighed "If you have anything useful for us, I suggest you say it now."

"Alright. I know where Thanos is."

The expected effect was immediate. The two Avengers were speechless, eyes widened, while full incomprehension could be read on Barton's face.

"How about starting with the _who_ Thanos is?" He suggested, realizing how much he had missed.

"How do you know about him?" The Captain exclaimed.

"There is a long and rational explanation, but I would very much like to say it once. Are you two the only remaining Avengers?"

"Are you looking for someone in particular?" Black Widow immediately answered.

Ready to spot the slightest suspicious detail, Morgan acknowledged, as a spy should do.

"Not really. Although Doctor Banner might be of help on some technical parts."

A lie, of course, but this was a way to lower their guard at least a little. By drawing a parallel between Banner and her, Morgan was implying that she was not a fighter, thus, a less immediate threat. Yet, as the latter Banner had proved, appearances could be misleading (though he was an extreme counter-example).

"Bruce is still with us." Rogers informed, more answering Barton than Morgan "Along with Thor."

"What about Tony?" The archer asked "And Wanda? Is she..."

The Captain gave him a sad nod. Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, was doubtlessly one of the most powerful Avengers. Morgan was glad she was not here, as her telepathic abilities could have been a problem. However, she saw that Barton was undeniably affected by her disappearance.

"As for Tony, no one knows where he is..."

"Captain Rogers, Miss Romanov." One of the soldiers suddenly interrupted "You have a call from the Queen."

There were four Wakandan guards on the vehicle. The one who had just spoken was a woman in red combat suit. Her head was shaved. In her right hand was a spear which Morgan knew was made of Vibranium, and in her left hand was a bracelet that emitted a dim glow. It suddenly formed the hologram of a young woman, whose face was marked by grief but also by fierce determination. This look was familiar to Morgan. With a slight tip of the scale, determination could turn to rage.

"Captain, I heard that you took two individuals at the border. Are they Clint Barton and Scott Lang?"

"Barton is with us. The other has long explanations to offer." Black Widow answered.

Morgan did not like Natasha Romanov. Not surprising at all, since she was the perfect embodiment of what she had been avoiding all her life; perspicacious spies who never let go of their target. If Morgan's moto was "run and hide", Romanov's one was "chase and find". They had a lot in common but were not eager to share it.

The hovercraft finally arrived in a place that could have impressed Morgan. Indeed, she had never seen such type of architecture. And yet, silence, the silence of shock and mourning, was covering everything in grey. There was no life in this fabulous city.

They stopped in front of an entrance where several people were waiting for them. Morgan had already seen the black man wearing some kind of exoskeleton around his legs. His name was James Rhodes, and he was also known as War Machine, thanks to the use of an armour similar to that of Iron Man. On his right was Doctor Bruce Banner, whose glance at Black Widow was quite a telling one. And, on his left, was Thor. He was firmly holding the axe she had seen crafted in the forge, and his face was marked by guilt.

Morgan took a brief look at Loki. Now was beginning the hardest part of the lie.


	29. Taipans do not cry

Tiredness. This was the only word which came to Morgan's mind to describe the general atmosphere. Tiredness was affecting both body and soul. Everyone was hurt. Such a gruesome defeat was too much to bear. The remaining Avengers were only shadows of their former selves. No one knew what to do.

Morgan was the only who appeared to offer potential solution. She saw glimmers of hope in their eyes, when she began to talk about what she saw and heard. A long time ago, she would have laughed at how ridiculously easy it was to manipulate them all. A long time ago, she was ignorant and arrogant.

" _And I still am, but at least, I am aware of it."_

She told them about how she met Thanos. Obviously, she could not give it a miss. The hardest part was to describe her powers. She revealed what could comparatively raise the smallest amount of questions, namely her ability to detect and spy on anyone. Not ever mentioning the Soul Stone. Nor the Book of Cosmic Entities. And definitely not Loki.

Along with Thor, Banner, Black Widow, Captain America and Hawkeye, sorry, Ronin, was the talking racoon she had seen in the forge. Rocket, if she remembered correctly. There was also a young girl, accompanied by another female warrior. General Okoye, Morgan heard. And she already knew about Shuri, a more than brilliant engineer and now current queen of Wakanda. All of them were gathered in a room of a central building, maybe the palace, Morgan could not be sure yet. If only a few months ago, someone had told her that she would have the Earth's Mightiest Heroes gathering around her to talk about the most powerful creature in the Universe, she would have advised whoever this someone was to stop taking crack immediately.

"So, this Thanos..." Barton began "Not only is he a maniac, but now he is literally omnipotent. There seems to be no way of harming him."

"Perhaps this could actually become a weakness." Morgan intervened "Such an amount of power is... confusing if I may say so. Paradoxically, the more opportunities he has to destroy anything, the less he will use them."

"How can you be so sure about that?" Romanov questioned.

"I am everything but sure about that. Yet, the glimpse of Thanos I had was one of a being obsessed with order. His ambition seemed impossible to attain but remained simple to conceive. Turning half of the Universe to ashes is something very easy to picture. Everything Thanos does follows a determined logic. Not making sense is not even conceivable, to him."

"Alright, I get it." Rocket suddenly sighed "But that won't give us any way to beat this guy."

The racoon was sit at the extremity of the wooden table, arms crossed. He did not even bother to look at her when speaking.

"And even if we manage to craft an exceptionally powerful weapon, nothing guarantees that we can properly use it, right?"

He had ended his sentence with a scornful look at Thor, whose hand clasped tighter around the wooden handle of his axe.

"Talking about what could have happened is pointless." Steve Rogers declared.

"Yeah, so what do you suggest we do, _Cap_?" Rocket bitterly replied "A suicide attack? Now that I think about it, I'm fine with that!"

"Right now, I suggest we calm down." Banner asserted "We are all exhausted. Nothing good will come out if we continue to blame ourselves."

" _Something_ has to come out." Shuri fiercely claimed "I refuse to believe this war to be over."

"We cannot engage into another battle." Okoye informed "Many of the remaining warriors are wounded. And we will not have the upper hand in unknown territory."

"I am aware of that. But a few warriors can make the difference if they are well-equipped. I will have a word with Doctor Banner, please."

The scientist acquiesced and stood up to follow her and general Okoye out of the room.

"I would like to talk to you as well." Shuri said to Morgan.

She nodded and followed on the trio's heels. The remaining Avengers did not seem bothered by being left alone, which was quite a satisfying turn of event. No one seemed wary of her, which was mostly her doing, but also due to the fact that she was accompanied by one of the strongest warriors of Wakanda, as well as the most powerful creature on Earth.

"Does it have a name?" Shuri inquired, taking a curious look at Loki.

"Taipan."

"Well, it's not exactly a name, is it?"

"And yet, it is his."

"Taipan or not, its head will roll of the floor if I spot one suspicious move." Okoye warned.

"I have no doubt about it." Morgan tranquilly answered, noticing Loki's amusement.

They crossed a long corridor, then entered a lift. The glass walls allowed Morgan to contemplate the capital during their ascension. She could not deny that the city was splendid.

"Incredible..." She muttered "I know that it is not the right time but I cannot help having a hundred questions about this place."

"There is always time for questions." Shuri smiled "But you will have to answer mine first."

"Oh, about that..." Bruce Banner started "When you mentioned the determined logic to which Thanos seems to cling... And the fact that nonsense might be his key weakness... Are you familiar with Quantum Mechanics?"

"A little. If you give me detailed explanations, I might pretend to understand them." Morgan answered "However, I am far from being as knowledgeable as you, Doctor, nor you, Queen Shuri. Because I presume you had the very same thought than Doctor Banner?"

Shuri giggled and Okoye rolled her eyes. For an instant, the Queen of Wakanda appeared as she was prior to the ashes. An extremely intelligent, but also lively and boastful teenage girl.

"Does it ring any bell when I mention the Second Law of Thermodynamics?"

Morgan was not bothered by Shuri's slightly superior tone, even though the teenager must be at least ten years younger than her. Evidently, she had to make the most of her image, the one of a genius, to be able to talk equal to equal to the Avengers, as well as to assume her new position of Queen of Wakanda.

"If I remember correctly, it states that in a closed system, where neither energy nor matter can enter nor leave, the amount of disorder tends to increase over time. The latter disorder also being known as entropy."

"One of the four Entities." Loki grinned, as much as a snake could.

The lift doors opened and the group immediately entered a small room which contained a large desk, as well as six large screens, all off at the moment.

"Indeed. Your description of Thanos' motives reminded me of this concept." Bruce Banner added "Supposing that the six Infinity Stones are directly related to bending the physical laws of the Universe, he has used them with the aim of establishing order. Following the Second Law, order can certainly increase in some part of the closed system, in exchange for an input of energy. However, the total amount of disorder cannot decrease."

"In short, nothing can truly be annihilated." Morgan summed up "What has disappeared from our perception of reality should have reappeared somewhere else."

"Hence Quantum Mechanics." Shuri pursued "In the quantum world, made of small distances and tiny particles, it is impossible to measure the position _and_ momentum of a given particle at the same time."

"Uncertainty principle."

"Mm-hm. _But_ , it is possible to do so if we are in possession of enough energy."

"Right, but all of it now resting in the hands of Thanos, I do not see how we can proceed. Unless you have already measured it beforehand?" Morgan inquired.

"Bingo." Shuri chuckled.

Okoye could not refrain a little smirk. She was doubtlessly happy to see that the young woman was always one step ahead of everyone else.

"You have kept records of the Mind Stone structure?" Banner asked.

"I always keep records of everything I work on."

Shuri ended her sentence by turning on one of the screens in front of them. A large oval hologram appeared, which Morgan immediately guessed was the Mind Stone, surrounded by multiples notes.

"Impressive... This Midgardian girl is much more resourceful than she appears." Loki whispered.

"So, from what we see... Is there something wrong?" Shuri suddenly stopped, spotting total disarray on both Morgan's and Bruce Banner's face.

"We cannot read your language." The scientist calmly said.

"Oops, sorry about that."

A minute later, the entire file had been translated into English. A religious silence took place for long minutes.

"The amount of data is stunning..." Bruce Banner muttered, still absorbed by his reading.

"With the appropriate technological support, we could manage to channel the power of the Infinity Stones." Shuri declared.

Morgan had no doubt concerning the nature of this "technological support". Vibranium. It would surely be much more complex than a knuckle-duster, but maybe they could craft their own Gauntlet.

* * *

Shuri, Bruce Banner and Morgan read and talked for hours. According to the teenage girl, the others Avengers were free to come whenever they wanted but were not eager to discuss about something they did not understand the slightest.

She was very good at many things, Loki thought, but very bad at lying. She probably just did not want to bother with explaining everything from scratch.

A few hours later, they showed the first signs of tiredness. Still, taking into account everything they had done and been through in the last few days, these humans' physical resistance was fascinating. They were driven by frantic hope to retrieve family and friends, and this assumption made it all the more difficult for Loki to remain hidden to everyone's gaze.

"You need to rest." Banner told Shuri, when he realized that she was nearly asleep on her feet.

"I am fine. I have no time to lose." She coldly answered.

"With all due respect, this is too important a work to rush." The physicist carefully pursued.

"On the contrary, we have too much at stake!" Shuri snapped "Every hour, every minute, every second I spend in what this Thanos has turned life into is wasted! The more we wait, the more we lose! I won't accept that!"

She refused to meet their gazes. Loki noticed that her clenched fists were trembling.

"As stupid as it may sound, rest is no time lost." Morgan calmly intervened.

Shuri breathed out loudly, too tired or too angry to talk back. She took a look at the window and noticed that it was indeed pitch-black night.

"I suppose... I will make sure that you have a room to sleep in as well."

"You have my thanks."

Bruce Banner politely took his leave, while Shuri was shutting off all screens.

"Just one last question... Adder... Why do I have the feeling that you are more into causing trouble than solving it?"

Morgan smiled shrewdly. Her eyes shone again, creating confidence in Shuri's mind.

"Because you are discerning. You would get along well with a good friend of mine."

"Lost in the Snap, isn't he?"

 _Too discerning._

"You surely know this quote, from the famous French chemist Lavoisier: In nature nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything changes."

"Some changes are harder to witness than others."

Loki knew what Shuri's fear was. Being alone. Loneliness affected everyone, genius engineer and trickster god all the same.

"You are trapped alone in a room with no windows or doors." Morgan suddenly began "You have a knife and an orange. How do you escape?"

"A knife and... An orange?"

"Yes."

Shuri's disorientation was funny to witness. She obviously expected everything but this type of statement.

"I... have no idea."

"You use the knife to cut the orange in half. Half plus half equals a whole and you escape through the hole."

The young girl started to chuckle. Then, she could not repress a nervous laughter.

"This is... This doesn't... make sense!" She stammered.

"Who said it should?"

* * *

"It could have been a mandarin." Loki pointed out.

"Or a lemon. Still works, though." Morgan smiled.

She was walking in the palace corridor, towards the room she had been provided with. Loki had seen very few people around. The humans who had not disappeared were mourning those who had. Such an atmosphere was everything but pleasant. It reminded him of these rotting alien corpses.

"Some fresh air would be welcome."

"I was about to say the same." Morgan answered.

They found themselves on a little balcony, on the second floor or the building. It was half-moon. Very few stars were visible, comparing to what they had seen in the Australian desert. The air was delightfully fresh. They breathed it slowly.

"Did you manage to... secure their trust?" Loki finally asked.

"Oh, no..." Morgan mumbled.

" _No_ , you did not, or _no_ , someone whom you and I do not wish to see is coming?"

Before she could answer, a very recognizable voice made them both shiver.

"Good evening, Lady Adder."

Morgan immediately took a severe face. She tightened her grasp around the balustrade of the balcony.

"Good evening." She reluctantly replied.

"I am Thor Odinson, god of..."

"Thunder. Not knowing who you are would almost be suspicious."

Loki's brother did not seem bothered by her cold tone. He even came closer to her, a friendly smile on his face.

"Are you some sort of snake-charmer?" He inquired "I have never seen such a serpent."

"So to speak. This one only lives in Australia."

"Oh, yeah, I've been there once. Nice place. I really liked the _veg-mite_."

Morgan's sudden laughter made Loki query what on Midgard this type of insect was.

"Bet you did. It is mighty, just like you." She chuckled.

Thor smirked. Loki wondered how he obtained a new eye. He also wondered if the situation could get any more guilt-inducing. By Hell, why was he forced to hide right before the very eyes of his brother?!

"Your serpent... It reminds of my brother."

Alright, maybe it could actually get worse.

"Loki."

Morgan had spoken his name to both Thor and Loki himself. As for the latter, it was a way to say "it was your idea in the first place, so stick with it".

"Indeed. I presume you already know about him, maybe not in the best way."

"Kind of." Morgan shrugged "Does he tame snakes as well?"

"Kind of." Loki sneered.

"I am fairly certain that he could. It just reminded me of a joke he played on me, once. He did some awful things on Midgard, but... He was still my brother."

The picture could _never_ have been more ironical. For years, Loki had wished for an occasion to see his brother in such a desperate state.

As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.

"Enough." The god of Mischief said to Morgan.

"I have my own dead to mourn and your brother is certainly not one of them." She curtly replied.

The god of Thunder seemed torn between sadness and understanding.

"I... Please accept my apologies... I should not have disturbed you..." He stammered.

Morgan quickly left, without adding anything nor looking back. Loki wondered if she thought that Thor was able to detect her cryptic message.

He was also glad that taipans do not cry.

* * *

 **What do you mean, "I like to be cruel?" No. Noooo. Not at all.**

 **Anyway, it's been a while since I left a little note. So I'll start this one by answering SoyableMaterial: Squalala.**

 **Done.**

 **Well, more seriously (though I don't feel like being serious is necessary) I'm glad you liked Som, and especially Morgan's conversation with Thanos! And yes, I missed you. You will catch a glimpse of a space Dorito at some point.**

 **To everyone, sorry about the pseudo-quantum scientific gibberish (I'm everything but an expert). It's the good thing with Marvel though, you can play with everything and add "science" right after, that makes it legit!**

 **At the end, when Morgan evokes Australia, she indeed mentions the Vegemite, but Loki can't know what it is, so he rather hears a contraction of vegetable and mite. Maybe it is though. Sorry, Australia.**

 **Oh, and in any case, for those who wonder, I'm not doing a time-travel fix-it. Waaayyy too complicated. But you will see some old faces in the next chapter!**

 **Thank you so much for your reviews, AnadoraBlack, Nayruh, CurtisMcQueen8 and TheBestSoy of course! Thank you everyone who followed and favourited my story! La bise!**


	30. The adder will bite first

"Brother! It's not funny anymore!"

He was doing his best not to burst into laughter. Thor had been looking for him for he did not know how long. He had to acknowledge that, his older brother did not give up so easily.

"Come on, I have something to show you!"

Obviously. Thor was always coming to Loki when had something to show him. He already knew what it was, anyway. Not earlier than this morning, he had begun to learn how to fight with a hammer. He was so proud of it that he could not remain silent. Fortunately, Loki also had something to show him...

"Loki! For the last time, where are... Whoa..."

Now was the hardest part. Staying still. This was much more difficult than he thought. Nevertheless, Thor was completely hypnotized.

"It's beautiful..." His brother muttered.

Loki could not be prouder of himself. At last, after countless attempts, he had managed to take a flawless animal appearance. He had chosen the form of a long, shining green grass-snake. Thor crouched and advanced his hand. Just a second before he managed to touch his head, Loki changed back into his Asgardian form and brandished his pocket knife.

"Ha, brother, you fool! It's me!" He triumphantly exclaimed, right before stabbing him.

Thor's face was priceless. His wound was not deep enough to hurt him, but his confusion was enough for Loki to finally laugh out loud, before running as fast as he could.

"Loki! You coward! I'll have my revenge!"

"You'll have to catch me first!"

Of course, his mother was going to blame him, but Loki did not care. _That_ was fun.

* * *

Now, _that_ was everything but fun.

Loki wanted to change back, say _brother, you fool, it's me_ , maybe even run away from the incredulous god of Thunder across the royal palace of Wakanda. He just did not want to see guilt on his brother's face anymore.

Suddenly, everything else, Thanos, the Avengers, the annihilation of half the Universe, seemed futile. It was not important, compared to his brother.

"I can't say that I know what it is like." Morgan whispered.

She was alone, or more exactly, they were alone, in one of the palace bedrooms. She was sat on the floor, her back against the wall, with Loki intertwined around her right arm.

"I think you do." Loki replied "I know what must be done, yet it does not matter to me."

A sad smile appeared on Morgan's face.

"What we _have_ to do, what we _want_ to do... In the end, the limits blur, and one becomes the other."

Loki slid from her arm and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was in front of her, in his Asgardian form. He sat against the wall as well.

"What would you do, if I decided to stay like this?"

"Do you mean, would I try to stop you? I am honoured to see that you think myself able to do so." She laughed "You can be knocked down, surely, imprisoned, maybe, killed, strangely, but I wonder if the god of Crazy Ideas can be stopped so easily."

"You did not answer my question."

"Because you know the answer already. You just want me to say it."

Loki sighed briefly. The way she expressed her affection was complex. This was the expected result of a life spent discerning and bending at her will any given emotion.

"What is the point, to say that I will never try to stop you if you want to meet your brother? That you will never try to stop me if I want to get my friend back?"

"Doing what we wanted has always had dire consequences." Loki observed.

"Absolutely. You do not simply put your fingers into the socket, you burn the whole house down wondering what happens after."

"I think I get the concept."

"However, until now, we only did what we wanted. I do not regret that, Loki. And I see no reason to stop. Oh, by the way..."

She did a strange move with her right hand.

"This means "snake" in sign language. We can use it as a code. To prove that we are still ourselves."

Loki acquiesced. He repeated the gesture a couple of times. Sometimes, the simplest tricks were the best. Even though he and Morgan already knew a lot about mind control, they could not be assured to have the upper hand in this field.

"I have to admit, I did not expect to see such a place on Earth." He said, taking a long look at the window. They could admire the lights of most of the city buildings, as well as what surely was the large entrance of the Vibranium mine.

"Me neither." Morgan replied "Such a technological superiority, combined with some of the best engineers in the world, might give us another unexpected asset."

Loki paused. This tone was familiar.

"You are going to ask me something." He guessed.

"I hate to be predictable... Indeed, I would like you to show me some memories, the same way you did in order for me to find Thor."

"Who will you be trying to find?"

His question was useless, he already knew the answer.

* * *

"Try not to pass out again."

"Try to get stabbed with your own weapon before you say so."

The blue-skinned woman sighed loudly. Her voice was deformed by the cybernetic enhancements that formed at least half of her body. She looked exhausted but had no visible injury.

Tony Stark, on the other hand, was not in the best shape ever. His face and arms were covered in black and purple bruises, his hand was pressed against the left side of his chest, and he winced at each word he pronounced. His iconic armour was nowhere to be seen.

Both of them were alone in what seemed to be a spaceship. The cyborg was regularly checking the control panel, while Stark could hardly do anything else than keeping a steady respiration and swallow some kind of painkillers he had taken from a first-aid kit.

Morgan had no clue about what they had done, what they were doing, nor what they were about to do. Actually, no one on Earth knew precisely what happened to Iron Man, right after he chased the spaceship which had briefly landed in New-York City. From what Bruce Banner said, Stark had been told about the Infinity Stones and had fought some members of Thanos' army, along with Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Those two were probably part of the ashes portion of the Universe.

Although Morgan had never heard about the alien woman, she could not help thinking that it was a strange turn of fate, to see the original Avengers remaining at the end of the battle. Had the Snap been that random? She could not possibly know. At this given moment, she could not do anything but to observe.

"So, you're sure we can't make it to Earth?" Stark enquired.

"Not with this ship. It doesn't have enough fuel nor oxygen reserves. We would need to stop by a planet. The nearest was Xandar, but Thanos destroyed it entirely..."

"Great. In other words, we're screwed."

From what Morgan had heard of Tony Stark, such a defeatist attitude did not look like him. Still, the least she could say was that such a situation was unprecedented. He was hurt, physically and emotionally, lost in Space, without any mean to contact anyone nor to be contacted by anyone else.

"I keep sending the distress signal. The chances are small but not inexistent." The woman added, in what could be seen as an attempt to reassure him.

"I don't care. They're probably all dead now. I just want to kill him."

There was only anger and sorrow in his tone. Nothing in common with the man whom Loki had shown her, perfectly able to offer a drink to a deadly opponent before being thrown out of his own window.

"I can't agree more."

The woman too had a fierce and resigned look on her face. Morgan came closer to her. She was the standard size of a human woman, that is to say almost ten centimetres taller than her, but everything else, from her outfit to the weapons she was carrying, not even mentioning the colour of her skin nor her mechanical limbs, was not related to Earth the slightest.

Staying focused on Stark's conscience was hard. He was pale, ready to collapse within seconds, which Morgan knew would immediately send her back into her body. She needed a name. Anything that could indicate their position, or their destination. She moved away from the cyborg and carefully examined every control panel. Nothing really meaningful.

"I heard him once, evoking a place from where he would observe his "saved" universe..." The woman hissed "He is probably doing so, right now. Even talking about it makes me want to chop his head."

"You're not the only one." Morgan nodded.

Obviously, she could not be heard, the same way she could not be seen. The "Scarecrow Planet" was nothing more than a dumb nickname, a trick Thanos played on her, the same way she did. Despite his stupid motivations, he was clever. Clever, powerful and determined. Did anyone truly stand a chance against him?

"I need something." Morgan thought out-loud "A connection. I need to create a bridge between the psychic and physical planes. _How_ do I do that?"

Suddenly, she heard a voice. Not the cyborg's, not Tony Stark's. A terribly loud voice, echoing inside her skull, so loud that she thought the latter was going to burst.

" _SOMEONE IS HERE! I HEAR YOU! WHO ARE YOU?!_ "

The voice was deafening, so deafening that Morgan did not even realize that she was back into her body. For a moment, she stayed curled against the wall, her hands against her ears, trying to figure out whether or not she would manage to hear again. Loki was nowhere to be seen, but it was a minor preoccupation at the moment. She groaned with pain but the buzz in her ears was already starting to fade.

Alright. Long breaths. Ears still functioning. Eyes as well, head, hands, legs, everything was at the right place. Morgan carefully stood up. She felt a fresh wind against her face and noticed that the window was wide open. She breathed the night air.

What.

Just.

Happened.

Someone else. Someone else had managed to... Hear her, and even reply, while she was focusing on Tony Stark. It was unconceivable, although this word would surely have to be banned from her vocabulary once and for all. In this war, everything should be conceivable.

It was a man's voice, of that she was certain. Not Thanos. Not Stark. An unknown man's voice. After consideration, Morgan also erased the possibility of the Soul Stone, which used someone else's voice and appearance to communicate. Furthermore, the man seemed panicked. Maybe he was on some other kind of dimension, and that Morgan and him had pronounced a key word which triggered a mental connection. A brief but intense connection.

"I'm starting to be fed up with psychic powers..." She sighed.

Only half-true. This had been surprising indeed, but it could also be seen as an opportunity. She had asked for a kind of... channel, which would allow her to set up a link between the remaining actors of this war, without Thanos knowing it. Like an encrypted message on a radio. Morgan was not a fighter. She was the one who looked and heard. She smirked when thinking that her task, as well as Loki's, was to bring the Avengers together.

Now, after this little self-glorification moment, she had to act. More exactly, to communicate with this voice. Was she able to do that? Concretely, it was the voice which had reached her, not the other way around. Nevertheless, she had to give it a try. She closed the window and sat on the floor again. Her body was tired but the need for answers was too great for her mind to fall asleep.

"Hum... Voice? Someone? Are you still here?" She whispered.

Silence, of course. It was not going to be that simple.

* * *

Since Morgan needed complete silence in order to effectively spy on someone, Loki had figured out that he might as well spend time doing the exact same thing. Both of them had unique ways of staying invisible to everyone's eyes. Whereas Morgan was seeing and hearing through the conscience of another, Loki was seeing and hearing through other kinds of eyes and ears. Presently, those of a magpie.

One day, when he was seven, he found a wounded magpie in the gardens of Asgard (much later, when he learnt that it was because of Fandral practicing his archery skills on birds, he turned his much beloved blond hair into a heap of black and white feathers) and secretly brought it to his room to heal it. Despite the bird's weakness, this had not been an easy task. The magpie was so frightened that, as soon as it became able to move its wings at least a little, it rushed to the open window and fell on the pavement, dead for good. The next day, Loki set on to ask his mother to teach him the basics of shapeshifting.

At the present moment, magpie-Loki was flying around the palace of Wakanda, looking for someone. Actually, looking for something. Even more exactly, something laying on someone's something. He suddenly spotted the someone.

"Can't sleep either?" Thor had just told agent Barton.

"Apparently."

The two men were standing on the same balcony where Morgan had reluctantly spoken to the god of Thunder. Maybe he had not moved since then. Ironically, Barton's presence was a very good counterbalance to his urge to see his brother. Taking back his appearance in front of the archer appeared as pleasant as swallowing a hornet nest.

"It's... been a while." Thor added, not really knowing what to say to engage the conversation.

Perched on an ivy, Loki quickly spotted what he was looking for. Storm-breaker, his brother's axe, was on the edge of the balcony, a few metres away from him. He fluttered towards it.

"Indeed." Barton finally answered "Lots of things happened since then. Did you catch up with the part where half of us was sent to prison?"

"I have... Lady Romanov explained everything to me."

"And you did the same to her. I'm sorry about your people. I hope you will avenge them."

Magpie-Loki landed on the balcony and discreetly hopped towards the axe. Then, he carefully extended his wings towards the edges, doing his best not to cut himself. Pretty dumb perspective.

"So did I, when I finally arrived in front of Thanos..." Thor sighed "I was obsessed by revenge. I should have aimed for the head. But I wanted him to suffer."

"Don't start blaming yourself, it won't make anything better." Barton warned "And I definitely can't blame you."

"He killed half of Asgardian refugees. He killed my friend. He killed my br..."

Thor stopped when he realized what he was about to say, and so did Loki, out of curiosity.

"Hm. Your brother. I would lie if I said that I regret him, but I know what it feels, to lose someone you care about. I guess lots of things happened on your side as well."

A feeble smile appeared on Thor's face, which was what distracted Loki. His right wing got too close to the cutting edge of the axe and a thin smear of blood stained his feathers. He could not refrain a groan, which was heard as a bird squeak by the two men, who simultaneously turned around. Loki immediately flied towards the ivy, where the leaves and the darkness of the night hid him perfectly.

"Strange..." The former SHIELD agent muttered.

"Why so? It is well known that these birds are attracted to shiny objects." Thor shrugged.

"Yeah, but have you ever seen a magpie with green eyes? Never have I."

Thor did not seem to care, but the archer's eagle eye stared at the place where Loki was hiding.

 _Well, shit._

* * *

Morgan was blankly staring at the mirror of the small bathroom, unable to focus on anything else than her exhausted look. The dark rings under her eyes were really huge. She poured water on her hands and splashed it on her face, which did not help the slightest. All she needed was sleep but she was too frustrated to rest. She had attempted everything she could think about to establish contact with the voice. Unsuccessful was a euphemism. Apparently, she would have to wait for it to manifest itself again, ripping her eardrums apart in the process.

She came back into the bedroom, wondering when Loki would be back. Two seconds later, a black and white bird smashed against the closed window, making her jump out of surprise and bring back some refined French vocabulary.

"Has it occurred to you that I left it open for a _reason_?" He snapped, with his hand over his nose, while laboriously entering the room.

"Has it occurred to you that you could have warned me before? Hey, you're bleeding!"

Not his nose, but the back of his right hand had a seemingly deep cut. Blood was dripping on the wooden floor.

"Nothing serious. I need one of your flasks."

She raised her eyebrows in incomprehension but rummaged in the little backpack she had brought with her. It mostly contained food, a water bottle, and some full as well as empty small containers. The full ones were the samples of Australian snakes' venoms that she was supposed to deliver to Adelaide hospital. She had four of them, including a dose of the inland taipan's venom. Unexpected thus useful tool in a fight.

It was only when Loki seized the tiny bottle that she realized his left hand was covered with something else. The Asgardian focused on it and the purple liquid covering his arm turned into many drops, all falling into the flask.

"You never evoked telekinesis when talking about your abilities."

"Because it is quite demanding in terms of energy. Using it on a regular basis would make me collapse."

He sealed the container, manifestly proud of himself.

"What is that weird thing you put inside?"

"Something that caught my attention when you were speaking to my brother. Some of it was still on his axe. Thanos' blood."

"Yuck. So, you turned into a bird to get it? Pretty amazing."

Loki was washing his hands, covered in red and purple blood. He winced a little when the water touched his cut. Apparently, it was deeper than expected. However, the blood had already stopped running. But the worried look on his face did not seem to be related to his wound.

"Did something else happen?" Morgan questioned.

"Perhaps. I forgot the eyes when I changed my appearance and Barton might be wary of something. I cannot be sure, but if it is the case, he will automatically suspect you."

"Hm. That doesn't seem much of a threat, to my mind. I doubt you have turned into the exact same bird right in front of agent Barton... Have you?"

"Heavens no."

"Even though he has an excellent memory, the colour of one's eyes is far too vague a characteristic to recognize someone. It doesn't look like you to worry about this kind of detail. There is something else, isn't it?"

The god of Mischief sighed.

"I can be really annoying, right?" Morgan smiled.

"You have no idea."

"Just so you know, you are quite a challenger in that area."

Loki sat on the bed, focused on his right hand, which was almost entirely cicatrised. Morgan was astonished by the rapidity of his healing. But she also knew that he could not bring himself to speak.

"When I arrived on Midgard, as you know, I used the sceptre to fight the Avengers." He finally said "The Mind Stone it contained also enabled me to control one of them."

"Oh. I see. You suppose Barton may have kept some kind of connection to you?"

"As you said, I am only supposing."

"Anyway, if he tries to attack the Taipan, the Adder will bite first."

Loki's green eyes stared at her for a while. He seemed relieved, but also uncertain.

"This is so strange..." He muttered "That you so easily accept everything I have done. That your perception of me does not change."

"It is... paradoxical... Because you have changed. The powers I have prevent me from staying focused on one specific feature a person has. Sometimes it is a blessing, sometimes it is a curse. Most of the time, it is a mess."

Morgan advanced her right hand to touch Loki's new scar, which would probably disappear soon. With a smile on his face, he delicately clasped the back of her hand and kissed her there in a sort of chivalric manner. This was unusual of him, but definitely not unpleasant. Loki brought her body closer to his, and she settled on the bed against his chest. Morgan did not make the slightest movement when his hand brushed the inside of her arm, then stopped right above the elbow. Here lied two small scars. Two pale dots, almost invisible to the eye of someone who would not know precisely what to look for.

"What bit the Adder first?" He whispered.

She slowly breathed out, eyes half-close. Sleep was calling her.

" _Cobra_ _Naja_."

The following silence reflected the Asgardian's frustration. He obviously wanted to learn more.

"It was not the snake that killed me. My own arrogance was more than enough. I thought... that I already knew everything, that I had already done all I could possibly do. This single snakebite tore my ridiculous convictions apart. You know where it took me, afterwards."

No movement whatsoever. Loki's hand had not left the curve of her elbow. Then, he brushed her upper arm, her shoulder and her neck. His hand was exquisitely cold. He slowly embraced her and she closed her eyes, listening to his heartbeats. They stayed in each other's arms for a while. No sound outside.

"You know what?" She murmured.

"Not yet."

"I really want to have sex but I am way too tired."

She felt Loki's chest shaken by laughter. Good enough to fall asleep.

* * *

 **Sorry, Loki.**

 **So, who is this unknown man screaming in Morgan's head? There are two possible answers, so let's see who guessed who!**

 **Suggested end song: _I Believe_ , Christina Perri.**


	31. Watching, listening and lying

"So, if I understand correctly... The colossal amount of data provided by the Mind Stone analysis might be a way to design a _kind of_ quantum computer... Which could, theoretically, help us design a _kind of_ Infinity Gauntlet made of Vibranium... Which itself, could _kind of_ help us countering Thanos... This is a lot of kind of..."

"Quantum Mechanics for you." Shuri mumbled.

Morgan was doing her best to keep up with the two insultingly intelligent scientists, namely Doctor Banner and the Queen of Wakanda. She was handling it pretty well, at least compared to the rest of the remaining Avengers. All of them were gathered in a vast laboratory, inside the palace. The glass walls allowed them to contemplate what previously was a luxuriant forest, rapidly turned into a gruesome battlefield. From what Morgan knew, that is to say not a lot, this was the only workplace where Shuri allowed the presence of not only other Wakandan scientists, but also foreigners. The Avengers were free to repair and even upgrade their equipment, however the previous days had mainly been dedicated to taking care of the injured warriors and facing the mental breakdown the Snap had caused, the latter task being far from over.

"Alright nerds, nice to see that you've got ideas and motivation and all, but are you literally talking about fighting the master of the Universe with a _computer_?"

The latter remark came from Rocket, the talking racoon, who probably was the most sarcastic creature Morgan had ever met. Even the one currently resting on her shoulders would have a hard time competing.

"No, this is not what we said." Bruce Banner patiently replied "Since the movement of energy and matter particles is inherently unpredictable, a quantum-designed device would enable us to control these particles, and therefore..."

The physicist stopped when he realized that the entire audience was completely lost. From what Morgan saw, only colonel James Rhodes and Natasha Romanov seemed to understand at least a little what was going on.

"How will you proceed to use those computers in a forge?" Thor asked, taking a not-so-convincing focused attitude.

Shuri pinched her eyebrow arch.

"Moron." Loki whispered, which made it even harder for Morgan to contain her laughter.

The snake-catcher suddenly became aware of the repetitive glances casted by Rogers, Banner and Thor towards a corner of the room. She discreetly looked as well. There stood a large table, on which what looked like an adult human body had been covered by a white sheet. Her examination was cut short by Rhodes' intervention.

"By the way, Captain Rogers, haven't you talked about trying to reach this Ant-Man guy? What's his name again?"

"Scott Lang. Yes, I did so, but it appears that he is... gone as well." Steve Rogers uneasily answered.

"He is closely related to Doctor Henry Pym, a very well know entomologist and quantum physicist." Banner told Morgan, guessing her enquiry.

"How long would it take to build such a weapon?" Clint Barton said, coming back to more practical questions.

"I have gathered the best Wakandan engineers to assist me." Shuri explained "Yet, I can't be certain... Days, weeks... Maybe months... This kind of technology has never been dealt with before."

A collective sigh of despondence followed.

"Does anyone here have _any_ positive news to provide, and without including a _kind_ _of_?" Rocket asked, after a moment.

"Stark is alive." Morgan readily answered, bracing herself for the storm of questions that was going to follow.

"Tony's alive?! Is he hurt? How do you know this?!" Rhodes exclaimed.

"Where is he now? Is there any way to contact him?" Rogers pursued.

"Are there other people with him?" Rocket intervened.

"What happened to the two other guys, Spider-Man and the wizard?" Banner inquired.

"Have you detected any other sign of Thanos?" Romanov questioned.

Morgan did her best to answer all questions, respectively yes, yes, I already told you about my abilities, in a spaceship, not that I know of, a blue cyborg woman, I don't know and not yet.

"He's with Nebula?!" Rocket summed up "That means... All the Guardians are gone?"

Presumably, Morgan thought, but it was too obvious to be told. She described everything she could recall, although she could not tell much.

"Wait, wait!" Shuri suddenly exclaimed "Basically, you are able to find anyone you have met before, am I correct?"

"You are going to ask me if I am able to track the persons who have disappeared, aren't you? Sadly, the answer is no." Morgan replied.

The engineer's silence was all the more telling. Her hopeful thought had been so sudden, and so quickly extinct, that it was almost painful.

"However, maybe I could give it a second try. There are individuals with superhuman abilities among the vanished ones, so there could be a chance to reach them, if they are... somewhere else."

"Wanda would be the most likely to do so." Black Widow advised "As well as this... wizard?"

"Uh-hu... His name is Doctor Strange." Banner confirmed.

Morgan uneasily nodded. Never had she attempted such a thing. She imperatively needed to _see_ someone in order to find the same person again. She had never been in presence of Scarlett Witch's conscience, nor Strange's, although she already knew a lot about him thanks to Som. When Loki showed her some of his memories, he enabled her to see through his own eyes, and therefore to take notice of Thor's and Stark's psychic signature. This had never worked with only images or videos. Yet, she had to do something.

"What about Ant-man's powers?" She inquired "Scott Lang? Is he..."

" _I AM HERE! THIS IS ME! PLEASE DON'T GO THIS TIME!_ "

"Ugh! Stop screaming! STOP SCREAMING!"

Morgan had her hands on her head, instinctively trying to silence the inhumanly loud voice. It was such a terrible racket that she thought every nerve, every link between each of her braincell was shouting at her with a megaphone. She would have stumbled on the floor, if not for the wall right behind her.

Why now? With all these people around, whose lips she saw moving, but obviously could not hear any single word they were saying?

 _This is good and not good at the same time_ , she was thinking through her sharp pain. She had made them trust her, so they were not going to consider her suddenly panicked attitude as a threat. Yet, some were harder to influence than others. Romanov and Barton... They were going to watch her even more carefully than before.

"Is this you, Lang? Are you Scott Lang?" She asked, immediately creating complete silence in the room.

" _YES, IT'S ME! OH GOD, I'M SO GLAD YOU CAN HEAR ME!_ "

Morgan sat on the floor, her back against the wall and her hands still on her ears. The voice was starting to get a little lower, but she still could not hear anything else. Captain America was the closest, but fortunately, he was not pressing her for answers nor touching her. Somehow, Morgan knew that physical contact would endanger the connection she had (had she?) established with Lang. Rogers actually was one of the fastest persons in this room to regain his calm attitude in front of this inexplicable change of behaviour. Even more, he was protecting her, physically preventing anyone from getting too close to her. Out of the corner of her half-closed eye, Morgan saw Shuri grabbing a pen and a piece of paper, rapidly writing everything she was mentioning out loud. Such a reflex did not disconcert her the slightest.

She was not worrying too much about Loki, though. She had told him about this bizarre occurrence when she was in Stark's conscience, and he had visibly noticed that no one in the room was about to threaten her (threaten them, as a matter of fact).

"Alright, I barely know what is going on." She began "I pronounced your name and immediately heard your voice. What happened to you? Where are you, right now?"

" _I'M IN... THAT'S SO WEIRD... I'M STUCK IN THE QUANTUM REALM! WHO ARE YOU? DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HOPE? AND HANK? AND JANET? I DON'T KNOW FOR HOW LONG I'VE BEEN HERE! WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED OUTSIDE?!_ "

"You are trapped in the quantum realm..." Morgan incredulously repeated, seeing everyone's eyes widening around her "How are you able to communicate with me?"

" _I DON'T KNOW, I REALLY DON'T KNOW! I KEEP SEEING FLASHES AND HEARING MEANINGLESS WORDS, THEY CHANGE SO FAST! AND THEN I HEAR WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT A BRIDGE BETWEEN PSYCHIC AND PHYSICAL PLANES OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT! CAN YOU BRING ME BACK?!_ "

Such a panicked tone was very familiar to her. The Quantum Realm... Was it some sort of Whatever-its-name? Apparently, it was not white nor silent. It was even the exact opposite. And yet, the feeling was exactly the same, when one was sent there.

"I don't think I... Wait, maybe so. It will sound completely crazy, but I guess you are prepared already. There was a catastrophic event on Earth. Half of the population disappeared in an instant. I guess those who were supposed to bring you back were part of this half. I am currently in Wakanda, with the remaining Avengers."

" _WAIT... HALF OF EARTH JUST DIED? YOU'RE IN WAKANDA WITH CAP RIGHT NOW? THIS IS COMPLETELY MESSED UP!_ "

"I know, I know, but please stop screaming, it is painful for me, just stop!" Morgan begged, almost crying out of pain "Did you... Did you enter the quantum realm thanks to some kind of machine? Is there a way we could reach out for it?"

She heard a story about a van on a roof, confusing her even more, but carefully repeated the location in order for Shuri to write it down. Morgan felt that she was getting close to her breaking point.

"I have to stop talking to you, I... cannot handle this connection anymore..." She articulated.

" _YEAH, OKAY, BUT HOW CAN I REACH YOU?!_ "

"You just... say... whatever..."

" _WHAD'YOU MEAN?!_ "

Too loud. Too much. The sudden silence Morgan heard right after the contact broke was even more painful. Had she not already been on the floor, she would have collapsed for sure. Everyone was looking at her in complete shock. She saw Shuri and Banner attempting to ask questions.

"Can't hear... Can't hear..." She muttered feebly.

 _Oh no_ , she was going to lose consciousness, she could feel it, she had to go somewhere else. Fear instinctively crept in her back. She could not pass out with all these people around, she could not...

"Need to rest..." She managed to say.

She saw a hand stretching towards her. Steve Roger's. He hesitantly glanced at her left shoulder, where the world's most venomous snake was settled, then chose to grab her arm nevertheless, to help her standing up. He easily lifted her in his arms and walked out of the laboratory. Morgan had no strength left in her body to refuse his assistance. Of what use would it be, anyway? Her legs could not support her, she had to admit it. This mental connection had been very brief but more than intense. Panic surged when she realized that she still could not hear anything. Was she becoming deaf? Was she? What could she do?

"I miss you, Som..." She mumbled, right before collapsing.

* * *

Right after the Soldier entered a little room, not far from the laboratory, and laid Morgan down on the bed, Loki slid close to her head, rose into an "S" shape, exactly like the brown snake had done, and hissed at him with all the fury he could display. _Get out_ was the underlying message, and it seemed explicit enough.

"Okay, you watch over her, I guess." He uneasily said, stepping backwards to the door and not breaking eye contact with him.

He closed the door. Loki immediately came back into his Asgardian appearance, panting. Shapeshifting for so long was starting to take its toll on his body. But he would have to worry about that later. He waved his hand around the door handle, so that no one else than him would be able to open it. It glimmered with a dim green colour and came back to its usual appearance. Then, he went to the side on the bed.

"Morgan?"

She opened her eyes and he sighed in relief. The memory of her screaming with pain in his arms was still too close.

"Loki..." She whispered "I can hear you..."

She was smiling, looking incredibly relieved as well. From what Loki saw, the voice she heard was so loud that it had rendered her deaf for a couple of minutes.

"I hate this..." She winced "Passing out in front of everyone... and getting carried like a princess in front of all the Avengers... Is there a more ridiculous situation?"

"Getting repeatedly slammed on the floor by a giant green beast."

"... Oh, shit."

"You can say so. Now rest, while I handle the rest."

"Ha. What rest are you talking about?"

"What we do since we arrived. Watching, listening and lying."

Morgan smirked, already half-asleep. Loki waited for her eyes to close before he started his transformation.

* * *

The main advantage of being the god of Mischief was, to Loki's mind, being closely associated with unpredictability. The annoying kind, of course. His reactions were as unreliable as his appearance. As he walked under the bedroom door, Loki could not help being amazed by how easily he could cast spells that usually required a much greater amount of time. Quite logically, it had to do with his stay in Whatever-its-name, for not having a purpose was now a child's play.

He rapidly approached the entrance of the laboratory, from which voices could already be heard. After having stepped inside, he climbed on a wall to have a better look at the group. It had been a very long time since he turned into a spider, and he was clearly not found of it. Without despising it entirely, he had to admit that this form was not the easiest to assume, especially when it led to much higher chances of being smashed by a boot. Not the kind of end we wished for. However, it was also the smallest he could get, that is to say the most invisible. His current appearance was close to the black house spider, no longer than three centimetres, and of charcoal grey colour. There already were spider webs in the corners of the walls and the ceiling, which suddenly reminded him of this absurd word those Midgardians called _Vikings_ used after he took a curious look at them when he was a teenager. He had mercifully shown them how easier it was to catch preys with a net instead of a single thread, and all they did was to give the name _loki_ to the term "tangle".

Morons.

But he was getting distracted.

"Do you really think that's true?" Romanov asked the Soldier.

"I can't be sure. But I know that she's not a threat to us. If there's a chance to find Scott, I'm ready to take it. Besides, he would be a key asset if we are to build a quantum-designed engine."

"About that!" Shuri cut "Have you noticed what she did to the computers?"

Noticing the audience's silence, she explained further.

"When she started to... hear your friend Scott, the screens began to lag, then to rapidly turn off and on, as if someone was repeatedly unplugging them, and plugging them back."

"If she is somehow able to establish a connection with the quantum world, she is doing so by disrupting electric waves around her..." Banner supposed "I cannot really tell if it is the cause or the consequence of her powers... Her brain must be one of a kind."

Morgan's words suddenly resonated within Loki's mind. _If humanity had a way to explore the very notion of soul... I do not even want to imagine what they would do to me "in the name of science"_.

Evidently, Earth heroes were not going to interrogate her on the spot, they had much more important threats to thwart. Additionally, Banner's alias made it difficult for him to face the authorities. Nevertheless, mere scientific interest could lead to anything, salvation or doom all the same.

"This is not the point right now." Thor stepped in "We should rather focus on any help we might need."

"True. With one of our jets, you could travel to California and come back in less than two days." Shuri informed.

After a moment, it was decided that the Widow would accompany the Soldier and the Beast to retrieve the Ant. Strange combination, Loki could not help thinking.

"Sorry to interrupt." Barton suddenly intervened "I'm just thinking about something else. It won't sound as technical as your plans, but any kind of weapon would be even more useful against Thanos if we can analyse his DNA, right?"

"What's a DNA?" Thor frowned.

"What you probably still have on the edge of your axe."

"The power of thunder?"

"Alright, let's say DNA equals the power of thunder." Shuri giggled "Brilliant idea though! I will need Thor to come with us in order to do so."

"With pleasure, Lady Shuri."

Everyone rapidly walked out of the room. The last persons left were the two former SHIELD agents.

"You're quite resourceful." Black Widow smirked.

"What's that, Nat, a compliment?"

"Maybe. And maybe everything isn't over."

"Nothing is over. Laura and the kids aren't over because this psychopathic alien decided so."

Romanov uneasily crossed her arms.

"Where have you been, Clint? Staying under house arrest is not your style."

"You can say so. After a couple of weeks, I suggested we took some vacations. We are on the run since then."

"Why am I not even surprised?"

Both of them walked towards the door. Black Widow's gaze erred towards the ceiling, to which Loki was still clinging (and was starting to get really upset about it).

"Ironically, I've always hated spiders." She sighed.

"Yeah, so have I." Barton completed, while grabbing one of the small items called _shurikens_.

 _Oh no, nononoNONO!_

"I forgot my... Hey, what do you think you're doing, replaying _The Last Samurai_?" Shuri suddenly burst "Don't you dare damaging one single square centimetre of my laboratory!"

Loki was starting to really appreciate this impertinent teenage girl.


	32. I am still here

"Hello there, little adder."

Morgan's breath stopped. It could not be possible...

She was back in front of the wooden cabin. Where the Titan was visibly waiting for her. He displayed no wound nor sign of exhaustion. On the contrary, he seemed all the more powerful. Morgan realized that she was trembling. She took a few steps backwards in the middle of the poppy field. The giant smirked at the sight of her shaky defensive posture.

"Why so surprised? I am the wielder of the Soul Stone. The abilities you have are mere fragments of the powers it conferred to me."

"B-but... Why am I _here_? H-how did you...?"

"You stammer like the child you are. Speak clearly. You did not seem so frightened, last time."

Morgan frantically looked around. She spotted the scarecrow on her left, lit up by the morning rays. The hysterical radio in her head automatically launched _House of the Rising Sun_ , by Animals. She refrained a gasp of shock when Thanos teleported right in front of her.

"Final warning, little one. Stop playing. You cannot defeat me, you _know_ it. Grow up, instead. Live."

"N-no... I c-can't live like that... I d-don't want to..."

Thanos sighed of disappointment. Next, he raised his right arm, and only at this moment did Morgan notice that he was wearing the Gauntlet.

"Then, die."

She could not do anything but scream out of pure terror when she saw the punch coming right towards her face.

* * *

The ceiling. The ceiling above her head. Nothing else but the ceiling.

It took Morgan long minutes to slow down her jolting breath at least a little. She was still in the small bedroom of the Wakandan palace, where Rogers had brought her. Nothing had moved. There was no window but the walls were elegantly decorated with colourful African tapestries. Morgan sat on the bed, her hands on her head.

A dream. Just a dream.

No, not a dream, a nightmare, a dreadfully realistic nightmare.

"Oh, I am so fed up of this..." She sighed.

"So am I..." A very familiar voice added.

Morgan's gaze surveyed the room. She barely had the time to examine the little black spider on the floor that Loki appeared in front of her in a bright flash of green. She jumped out of the bed, right on time to catch his shoulders. She staggered under his weight. He was so tired, he could barely stand on his feet and would have fallen on the floor without her support.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"I am afraid not." He murmured.

Eyes half-closed, not moving an inch, he was very pale. He sat on the bed, panting, and Morgan settled near him.

"I am aware that I need some sleep." The Asgardian admitted "But it would be like coming back _there_."

"Coming back in front of Thanos or in Whatever-its-name, we are both free and trapped, anything is possible, reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold and I want an aspirin now."

"Stop ciphering."

"Sorry, I cannot help it when I am stressed. Did I dream it or did you really turn into a spider?"

Loki smirked weakly. His absence of quip proved his extreme tiredness.

" _Anansi the trickster_." She whistled.

"I presume there is a story behind that name." The god of Mischief finally said, a moment later.

"A lot of stories. In West Africa, Anansi is the spider-trickster god, famous for creating the stars, the Moon, the Sun, the rain, among other things, and hoarding the entire world wisdom in a calabash."

"Why a calabash?"

"Don't know, maybe he didn't have any teapot to hand."

"Talking about tea, I would not say no to one. I do not wish to stay in this room for ever."

He stood up with precaution and smiled at Morgan's expecting gaze.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, but I cannot shapeshift indefinitely. The more I use this magic, the more it exhausts me. However, illusions are not as demanding, since I do not need to modify the structure of my body."

It apparently took him a little longer than expected, but if she remembered correctly, the woman whose appearance he just displayed was one of the scientists they had seen in Shuri's lab.

* * *

"So, you are still you, but everyone else sees a Wakandan physicist?"

Both of them were presently walking in the corridors of the palace. Whereas Morgan seemed a little tensed, Loki was incredibly relieved. Shapeshifting was fun, but costly. Even though his abilities had been greatly increased after his stay in Whatever-its-name, using them day and night, with no sleep at all, barely any food, and in a context which "stressful" was an insultingly ridiculous word to describe, was slowly but surely driving him into a corner.

"Correct. And you cannot see through my illusions, but are aware that it is only a projection?"

"Correctly correct. Everyone has a unique psychic signature, which I can erase or find, as you already know. Yet, if I had met you while you were "wearing" a projection, if I may say, I would not have been able to tell that what I saw was not the real you. I can track consciences; however, my senses can still be fooled."

Their conversation was cut short by some muffled sounds coming from a room on their left. Loki stepped in first and saw that the person making these noises was actually not one. It was the talking racoon named Rocket, which his brother could not help but naming rabbit. He was alone in a vast kitchen, rummaging in the cupboards.

"Oh, it's you." He said, when Morgan entered "Where's your pet snake?"

"Resting. Where is everybody?"

"Same. Oh, and some others left to bring this Ant-guy back. Aha!"

The racoon seemed to have finally found what he was looking for, that is to say a rounded bottle of what certainly was alcohol. He gave it an approving look after having tasted it.

"Not bad... _Tej_... What's that?"

"Some kind of honey-wine, I believe." Morgan explained.

"You humans have strange but good ideas. And you are?" He added, looking at Loki.

"Nancy."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Morgan's lips slightly twitching in an involuntary smile. She moved towards the kitchen counter and soon after grabbed a teapot, which she filled with water. Nancy-Loki sat on a chair, hoping that any kind of sustenance would be enough to regain some energy. Everything but sleeping. Not closing his eyes, not closing his eyes, not closing his...

"Hey, you're okay?"

He briskly turned his head towards the racoon, tranquilly seated on the table, the wine bottle next to him.

"You looked really zonked."

"Not as if I did not have good reasons to be." Loki sighed.

"Right. Want some?"

"No, thanks."

Rocket shrugged and drank another mouthful of honey wine. Although Loki was mostly dreading sleep, he still found it difficult to eat, especially food with pronounced taste.

"Where are you from, exactly?" Morgan questioned, coming back with two cups and a steaming teapot.

"The Keystone Quadrant star system."

"Hm. What's the weather like, over there?"

"Like shit..."

The three of them uneasily sipped their drinks for a while, not really knowing how to break this awkward silence.

"What are the Guardians? Is it like a team? A sort of... space-Avengers?" Morgan inquired.

"Uh... Yeah, kind of. More like a... really weird family. There's Quill, he is human and also very dumb, at least when he wants to make sure that he's the captain. Gamora, Thanos' daughter, but she wants him as dead as everyone else does. And Drax, and Mantis, and... Groot."

Silence again. Loki put his cup on the table. He did not really like this tea, anyway.

"Sorry for the absence of sorry." Morgan finally said.

"Right, 'cause you're not damn sorry."

"Indeed. I like you, though. You are annoyingly sympathetic."

"Ha! At least, thanks for that! I've got to say... Okay, what now?"

The sounds of many approaching footsteps had interrupted him. Apparently, a bunch of Wakandan soldiers and scientists were hastily walking towards what Loki vaguely supposed to be the exit of the palace. The racoon jumped on the floor and asked, verbatim, what the heck was going now, an umpteenth invasion, really, what was there left to invade.

"Alright, this day can actually get weirder." He added, after having received a response which neither Loki nor Morgan had been able to hear "You might wanna hide, or take a look, whatever, 'cause there's another incoming spaceship."

* * *

"What the hell is that..." Colonel Rhodes whispered.

Fortunately, the spaceship had crash-landed right outside the protection field surrounding Wakanda, not damaging any habitation. Everyone, from Thor to agent Barton, as well as Morgan and Nancy-Loki, was contemplating the impressive plume of smoke that came from the improvised landing strip.

"We only received a few fragments of their calls." Shuri informed "Their communication system was completely busted but what we understood was clearly a distress message."

"At least, they tried to make contact, which is not what an enemy should do. But still..." Rhodes continued.

"Hey, wait a minute..." Rocket intervened, a pair of binoculars on his eyes "I know this spaceship! Okay, it's falling apart, but... What the... It's the Nova Corps!"

"The _what_?!" Pretty much everyone else answered.

"Yeah, the intergalactic military force of the Nova Empire. The Space cops, if you prefer. Oh shit, their ship is on fire now."

Indeed, the smoke surrounding the massive yellow engine, was becoming darker and darker. Morgan swallowed uneasily, wondering what those Space cops were up to, and how they had managed to land in the exact place where Thanos had snapped his fingers.

"I am going to take a look and see what their intentions are." Thor proposed "I will keep you informed of their whereabouts."

He immediately swung his axe, which propelled him in the air.

"Alright. And how is he going to do that, without any radio or earpiece?" Rhodes sighed.

Nevertheless, Shuri ordered the opening of a small passage within the forcefield, in order for Thor to go outside. Morgan suddenly noticed that Loki had gone missing.

"Please, don't do anything stupid." She muttered.

A few seconds later, she saw what she believed to be a raven flying right after Thor.

"Like that."

* * *

Loki knew that he could not maintain his transformation very long, but that did not matter. His brother was very much the kind of person to run head-on into a trap. The Nova Corps? Seriously? He had heard about them a couple of times, but it was a little too easy. Why would they suddenly choose to seek refuge on Earth, and not on a closer planet? On the other hand, what was the point of launching a surprise attack, if the Universe had already lost half of its population? Nevertheless, he had to be sure. And if "being sure" meant taking back his Asgardian form in order to assist his brother, thus reducing to nothing the vague idea of a plan he had, well, so be it.

Propelled by Storm-breaker, Thor dashed at an incredible speed outside the protective barrier. Loki had Hell of a job trying to keep up with him. He did not even have the time to enjoy flying as a raven again. Pity.

The two brothers arrived at the ship right on time to see one of its reactors exploding. The blow it created propelled raven-Loki a few meters away in the air. Had he had teeth, he would have grinded them.

"Thor!"

Wait a minute. This voice was familiar. _Very_ familiar.

"Thor! Down here!"

The god of Thunder lowered his eyes, which brightened with surprise.

"Valkyrie?!"

The racoon was right, this day could indeed get weirder.

All the passengers of the Nova Corps spaceship had been safely gathered outside. Among them was the group of the Asgardian refugees who managed to take the escape pod but did not, ironically, escape the Snap. There was no more than a hundred people, mostly women and children. Then, came the Nova Corps themselves, much more numerous. Many of them were wounded. But the best part certainly was the duo formed by Stark and the blue woman Morgan had also seen. Loki could nor help himself having some sort of respect for this Space police, which managed to find two different escape pods in different parts of the Galaxy, then probably launched an unbelievable sequence of neural teleportation networks in order to arrive on Earth, dismantling the ship in the process.

"Thor... Your friend Stark told us about Thanos." Valkyrie began.

"What? Man of Iron, you have faced Thanos?"

"Yeah, and we lost!" Stark bitterly exclaimed.

"All of us have lost... But I am glad to see you, my friend. Knights of Nova, you have all my thanks for having rescued my people."

"Rhomann Dey, commander of the Nova Corps. In all honesty, we also needed a planet to land on, but the numerous jumps towards Terra have greatly damaged our ship. I learnt that not one but two Infinity Stones were kept on this planet."

"Who is... left, here?" Stark articulated.

Only then did Loki notice that the human was on the verge of collapsing. He was very pale, bruised, and extremely tired. The latter characteristic was shared by pretty much every person around him. Himself included. His body was incredibly heavy. Too heavy.

Thor's response was muffled by the sound of the incoming jet. The god of Mischief recognized one of the vehicles the soldiers of Wakanda used. Soon after, the space-refugees were joined by the queen, as well as another warrior whose name Loki understood to be M'Baku.

"Just when I was thinking we could understand what's going on..." Shuri sighed "How many are you? And what exactly are you, for the most part?"

"Lady Shuri, these men and women are the last survivors of Asgard. We were attacked by Thanos, as well as the Knights of Nova."

"Nova _Corps_." Rhomann Dey mumbled.

"Who else are we supposed to see arriving?" M'Baku suddenly exclaimed "Our kingdom has suffered great losses. We are barely managing to help the citizens of Wakanda to recover from the Snap."

"We may be a burden." Thor admitted "But we may also be of help."

"Wait... Are you Tony Stark?"

Shuri's attention had radically shifted from the king of Asgard to the armoured inventor of Midgard.

"Oh, yeah, Tony Stark, or whatever's left of him."

"We need the help of the entire you, Stark. We need everybody's help." Shuri solemnly declared.

"And you'll have it. Running away isn't really my thing." Valkyrie smirked, before turning to Thor "Hey, where did you get your new eye?"

"Oh, a rabbit gave it to me."

"Right... By the way, I hope the big guy's okay! And your annoying brother, where is he?"

"Banner is fine, but Loki... will not come back."

Loki abruptly realized that his brother was perhaps the only one truly mourning him. He fluttered towards a tree a little closer to the group, right on time to meet Thor's gaze. Then, for the first time since he had seen him again, he spotted a real smile on his brother's face. He had not chosen to turn into a raven at random.

"But Asgard is still here." The god of Thunder added.

 _And I am still here, brother._

* * *

"Chaotic" could not even begin to describe the arrival of the bunch of newcomers. Morgan, alongside Rhodes and Barton, was astonished. All of them were silently processing the fact that a group of aliens from different planets had crash-landed in Wakanda. Their hesitation was understandable, considering the fact that their previous encounters with aliens, respectfully Chitauris and Outriders, had not exactly consisted in taking a five o'clock tea.

If Rocket was far less surprised, he was not the happiest either. Every person he had described to Morgan was nowhere to be seen. Without hating her, he did not seem to be especially friend with Nebula, who was also watched closely by some members of the Nova Corps.

Yet, Morgan's attention was somewhere else. Because the fact was, she had no mean to know where Loki was. Indeed, the irony of erasing someone's conscience was that she could not detect it either. Quite logical.

She kept on scrutinizing the sky. All the Asgardians and... Xandarians, whatever, were here, Thor was assisting the wounded, Rhodes was helping Stark, Rocket was advising the blue-skinned cyborg no to call him a racoon, in short, no one was missing. No one except Loki, whom no one knew was alive. She clenched her fist. Learning not to see and hear was always harder than expected. Som and Loki were the two persons in the world whom she could never find and always trust. Morgan walked further away from the people, all gathered in a large square at the entrance of the capital.

"Did you miss me?" An amused feminine voice said behind her back, making her jump out of surprise.

"Good to see you, Nancy."

The woman whose form Loki had taken was almost the same height than him, which was probably what oriented his choice. Her long black hair was tied in multiple braids, decorated with little pearls at their ends. "She" had a proud smile on her face.

"So, how did all these..."

Morgan could not finish her question, taken aback by Loki's violent reaction. He fell on his knees and clung to the nearest wall not to collapse. His breath was jolting. Morgan rushed to grab his other arm, trying to lift him, glancing frantically at the crowd, which was not so far away. She realized that Nancy's appearance was now shimmering with green, showing that Loki could not even maintain his illusions. She firmly grabbed his head, focusing on his green gaze. Loki was only half-conscious, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Stay conscious. Stay conscious just a little longer."

"Not... safe... here..."

"What?"

An unexpected bright light forced Morgan to close her eyes. When she opened them again, there was only whiteness and silence.

* * *

For they-could-not-say-how-long-since-there-is-no-time, Loki and Morgan did not say a word, for they could not find one adequate enough to describe how speechless they were.

"I... did not... expect... that..."

Both slowly stood up. Whiteness and silence, indeed. Morgan looked at Loki, who was still struggling to speak. Then, she became aware of something.

"Loki, I am here."

"I see that."

"No, I mean, I am _here_. Physically. I can touch you."

He lowered his eyes and realized that she was indeed still holding his arm. They were both in Whatever-its-name, body and soul.

"Oh, to Hell with this wretched place!" Loki groaned.

"But you wished for it..." Morgan whispered.

She was starting to understand. This was as unbelievable as it was amazing.

"What do you mean? I wished for everything but going back here! How can I be sure that I am not dreaming? That all of this is not an illusion? That I am not..."

He stopped when Morgan slapped him hard on the face.

"What in the..."

"Tell me now, do you feel pain? Because it shouldn't be the case if you were dreaming. Alright, your turn. Hit me."

"If you wish so."

Morgan braced herself when Loki's hand came towards her face. However, she did not receive any blow. Instead, she felt a caress on her neck, then Loki's lips against hers. They stayed completely immobile for a few seconds, not doing anything else than kissing.

"Tell me now, do you feel pleasure?"

"I will not lie; you are extraordinary in every way, god of Ideas."

"I return the compliment, goddess of Names."

"Oh, I like this title."

Both of them were quite proud of themselves and each other. The tension had decreased a little, which was the most important. Time to figure out what had happened.

"What did you mean when you said that I wished for Whatever-its-name?" Loki inquired.

"I meant that this time, I do believe that it is you who transported us here. You wished for a safe place. Technically, we cannot be harmed nor be found, here."

" _I_ transported _both of us_? Is it due to the powers you transferred to me?"

"I think so. I precisely gave to your body and your soul the ability to come in and out of Whatever-its-name. It seems that you have kept it, and, more surprisingly, can take other people with you."

"So, this would imply that the powers conferred by the Soul Stone can change, depending on the being who acquires them."

"Mmh... This makes sense, at least on the Soul Stone's perspective."

Morgan recalled the words of her "mother". _You are a good creation. Most of them failed._

Thanos had evoked it as well. _Out of the countless bearers it created, you stand out, little one._

She wondered how many beings across the Universe wielded the Soul Stone's powers, and if they had managed, or would manage, to enter Whatever-its-name.

"Thus, we have disappeared from the Universe, now." Loki theatrically concluded "And we can decide how to come back."

"Indeed. What do you decide?"

* * *

 **Suggested end song: _I'm still here_ , Treasure Planet (I really like this song I think it's quite a nice one for Loki by the way). **

**For those who know Gravity Falls, don't you think it would be unbelievably cool to see a meeting between Loki and Bill Cipher? (well, Loki wouldn't stand a chance but it would be so damn funny!)**


	33. What do you want?

"By Hell, I slept."

"For fifteen hours. I had enough time to drink a glass of water, make dinner, eat dinner, save North Korea, build a house of cards, destroy the house of cards, re-save North Korea, then wash the dishes."

"Busy night."

Loki's memories slowly came back one by one. They had had no problem coming back to the palace after having emerged from Whatever-its-name. The god of Mischief could not refrain a smirk when he recalled that they had actually entered what was now Morgan's bedroom through the window. It reminded him of the good old days when he was sneaking out of the palace as a teenager, always on Thor's heels, to reluctantly join Hogun, Volstagg and Fandral, to drink to the point where they barely managed to remember their own name. Loki had never been as drunk as Volstagg, though. One day, the latter firmly believed that he was suddenly cornered by enemies, drew his axe and proceeded to slay them all. It turned out he was actually in the middle of a pastureland, and had killed seventy-six goats.

"Makes you think about something?"

"It involves Asgardian alcohol and an infuriated landowner."

This time, it was her turn to smile, and it was not hard to guess that she was also remembering something.

"I desperately want to know what crossed your mind."

"It involves a bar in London and a karaoke with Som. The rest is classified defence."

Morgan was carefully examining the flasks of snake venom she had brought with her. Loki uneasily rose up from the bed and put his clothes back on. A quick glance at the window informed him that it was the end of the day. He was still unsure about how he felt regarding Whatever-its-name. On the one hand, this place still terrified him, and he knew that this specific fear would take a lot of time to fade. On the other hand, he could now exert some control over it. He was not a prisoner anymore. Maybe it was this realization that had helped him accepting to close his eyes.

"Not much happened today." Morgan intervened "Everyone is either wounded and resting, either not wounded and helping those who are. And it should not take long before..."

Her sentence was brutally stopped by an aggressive sound, something like a broken trumpet, coming from outside.

"What is that hellish noise?" Loki winced.

Morgan waited a couple of seconds. She seemed torn between incredulity and hysterical laughter.

"I believe it is _La Cucaracha_."

* * *

Scott Lang was strange. First, because of his nickname. Ant-Man. Who would like to be called Ant-Man? Not very flattering, as far as Morgan was concerned. Second, and this second struck her like thunder as soon as she met his gaze, his conscience was one of a kind.

"Incredible..." She whispered to Loki, who had come back to his taipan form "I didn't think it was possible..."

"What is it?"

"This guy is human, but his soul is... disturbed. As if he had been... shattered, then built again..."

He looked shattered, indeed. Astonished. Hurt. Sad. Hope, Hank, Janet... Names that barely evoked anything to Morgan, but which were doubtlessly haunting every corner of his mind.

And there was something else, but she could not tell exactly. Which was the problem. Lang disoriented her. His peculiar presence made her feel unsure. Even more, vulnerable. She sighed briefly and did her best to repress this unpleasant sensation.

"Your Highness... Thank you for welcoming us and... Uh, well, I don't really know what to add, I'm sorry..." Lang uncomfortably stammered.

"No need to apologize... IS THAT A QUANTUM TUNNEL IN HERE?!"

All of Shuri's discretion vanished as soon as she noticed the van. A real van. The vanest van. The engineer dashed towards the vehicle, which had been taken out of the aircraft. Around it was already standing a handful of Wakandan scientists, as well as Doctor Banner and agent Romanov.

"Hey Scott. Nice to see you again."

"Thanks, Clint."

The two men were shaking hands. So, they already knew each other, Morgan observed, and apparently Lang was also getting along well with Captain America, who was retreating away from the van to let Shuri examine it.

"We've got some news on our side too." The archer told him.

"I guess so, we've noticed the newly crashed spaceship. What happened?"

"Well... Tony's back."

Steve Rogers froze, not really knowing how to react. He seemed torn between a dozen of conflicting feelings, which Morgan could understand, since he had spent the last couple of years described as a criminal by international security organizations.

"By the way Scott, just in case you wondered whose head you've apparently been screaming into, it's hers." Barton added.

"Hi." Morgan said, waving her hand and fairly certain that the taipan on her shoulders was smiling as well.

"Oh, uh... Nice to see you."

"Nice to see that you got out of the quantum world, and I can't believe that I am actually saying that."

"Yes, it's... It's a mess. A huge mess. Doctor Banner managed to get me out of the tunnel. I can't really describe what happened there. Everything is fuzzy and... The only thing I can clearly remember is talking to you. How did you exactly manage to contact me?"

"Honestly, I am as surprised as you are. I actually thought that you were the one who created the connection."

Lang nervously ran his hand through his hair. This was more than too much at the same time. This was a whole new level of mayhem.

"I still can't believe it... That half of Earth just... vanished. This... Thanos, what does he want, exactly?"

"This. This is what he wants. He has reached this goal, he will not come to us again. We have to come to him."

"To come to him? Do we really stand a chance? I mean, he killed _billions_ of people in just a _snap_ of his fingers! Everywhere on Earth, it's total chaos. No one can reach anyone. We might be of much greater help if we..."

"If we what? Split up around the globe?" Barton intervened "Do you truly think that you can make a difference for thousands of wounded people?"

"Actually, I think we can."

Lang ran back to the van, leaving Morgan and Barton in complete disarray. She looked at him, he looked at her, then they both shrugged and followed on Ant-Man's heels.

"This is the reason why I travelled to the quantum realm."

He opened the suitcase he had just grabbed, suddenly having the entire audience's attention. Inside was a long oval container, which he clasped with precaution. The inside was shining with a dim multi-coloured light.

"Quantum healing particles."

From then on, everything went extremely fast. The combination of new allies and new assets created a significant surge of hope. As far as Morgan understood, the peculiar atoms which Lang had collected enabled an acceleration of the healing process, for both Midgardians and Asgardians. Shuri, who was on the verge of hysteria since she had put her hands on the container, was doing her best to isolate those particles and use them for two purposes. The first one was obviously taking care of the wounded. Hundreds of civilians were still in critical state due to the consequences of the Snap. Wakanda was already in possession of extremely advanced technological means, and the medical treatments combined with quantum energy gave way to an incredibly rapid recovery of the victims.

The second purpose was the most crucial one, as well as the most dangerous.

"Although the analysis of quantum particles is far from over, I have noticed a sort of pattern between them and the Mind Stone structure." Shuri informed "In short, we could say that they repel each other. Quantum energy disturbs Infinity Stones energy."

"So, this is not about building a Gauntlet, is it?" Rogers asked.

"No, it's not. I cannot find a proper way to harness the Infinity Stones power. However, we might create an item that would protect us from it."

"A shield." Stark completed.

All stares converged towards the Captain, who stared at Stark in an expression of disbelief.

"Anyway, I'm more into blasters and armours, so... You're the best among us to handle it."

At least, the first step was over. The Avengers were assembled.

* * *

It had been a week since Loki arrived in Wakanda. He had slowly but surely got re-used to sleep, which enabled him to exert a better control over his powers. He had also discovered a lot more about the Avengers. None of them was the same than those he had previously faced. He could not help but wondering what their reaction would be if he suddenly reappeared before their eyes.

Right, they would still attack him.

New faces were also very interesting, especially Shuri. This human was one of a kind. Had she been able to wield magic, she would have become a tremendous sorceress. Also, Rocket, whom Loki could not bring himself to ignore, despite his tendency to be as annoying as a space racoon warrior could be. And there was Nebula. He had very briefly heard about her and her sister Gamora, as some of Thanos' children, but they had nothing in common with the four deranged aliens who attacked the Asgardian refugees' spaceship. This woman was probably the most reclusive of all the people around him. She would never say a word to anyone, except if she was asked something, in which case she would give the shortest possible answer. All members of the Nova Corps were wary of her, and most of the Midgardians could not help but being a little tensed when they came face-to-face with a blue-skinned cyborg with a deadly look on her face. With the exception of Morgan. It was not difficult to guess why. She had started with questions about Thanos. One thing leading to another, she had learnt what he did to her sister. _A soul for a soul._ Loki had seen the shadow in Morgan's eyes when Nebula had evoked her sibling's death. Gamora was gone. Vivian was gone.

And, to Thor, Loki was gone.

What was the point? Why did he have this foolish idea? He had no guarantee that it would work against Thanos.

But after all, no one had any sort of guarantee that anything would work. Storm-breaker could still be broken. The Vibranium shield could still be broken. Every single weapon that everyone was currently building or repairing could purely and solely be ineffective. Perhaps everything was pointless, perhaps nothing was.

"Are you sure you don't want to rest a little longer?"

"No. Doing nothing would just make things worse." Stark bitterly answered Banner.

What was apparently considered as the three best scientists in the entire world was gathered around a large working table, in which centre was positioned a round-shaped metal item. Stark, Banner and Shuri were not alone in the laboratory. Apart from Loki and Morgan (well, Taipan and Morgan, to be exact), a dozen of Wakandan engineers were assisting the heroes of Earth (and not only of Earth). Rocket was looking for any update he could possibly add to his machine gun (Loki even heard him asking for some prosthetic limb), Barton was reviewing every type of arrow he could use, the so-called War Machine was repairing his damaged suit, and the commander of the Space cops was showing several plans of his spaceship to many astonished technicians.

"By the way Mister Lang, how did you manage to isolate quantum healing particles?" Shuri inquired, without raising her eyes from the computer screen.

The Ant was standing next to the Soldier, who was watching closely, but not intervening the slightest in the trio's doings.

"I didn't personally isolate them. Janet Pym did. She actually spent years trapped in the quantum realm. And when she came back, she had those... abilities. I can't know their extent for sure."

Morgan's shoulders were tensed, and Loki knew why. Lang's conscience was stressing her a lot, and the most troubling was that it was a physical reaction. Some kind of inherent fear. Which only strengthened Shuri's theory; since Morgan's powers came from an Infinity Stone, quantum energy was repelling her. This was good news and bad news.

"Abilities, uh... And what about yours, Miss Adder, are you some kind of medium? Please don't be another wizard."

Stark had spoken on a seemingly detached tone, but this façade was too easy to see through. Physically speaking, the inventor looked somewhat better than before: less bruises over his face and arms, slightly reduced shadows under his eyes, no more sharp breath due to his wound. Yet, he also seemed worrying, because he was desperate. And desperate people did stupid things, when facing an enemy. Loki was well placed to know that.

"Wait, Tony, I just thought about something..." Rogers interrupted "Those quantum-healing particles... Do you think it would be possible to use them on Vision?"

Everyone's gazes briefly derived towards the back of the room, where the human-shaped body was still lying. Loki had recently learned about this android animated by the power of the Mind stone, ironically thanks to him, who had brought the Sceptre on Earth. Life was strange.

"I... don't think it is." Stark hesitantly replied "I mean, without the Mind Stone, it would be _something else_ , entirely. But thank you. For protecting him."

The Soldier casted a heavy glance at the grey, lifeless form, whose forehead had been savagely pierced, leaving only a heap of mixed wires.

"You have nothing to thank us for. We could not protect him, nor anyone else."

"Doesn't matter now. You refused to hand him over to Thanos until the last minute and _that_ I can thank you for."

"Sorry to interrupt..." Banner indeed interrupted "But you might want to see this."

The two men's heads simultaneously turned towards the centre of the table. Next to the unfinished shield was a 3D projection of a metal arm, which Loki recognized as a component of Stark's armour, although it had little in common with the one he used when he fought him in New-York.

"For the moment, this is just a simulation." Shuri started to explain "But the power created by the combination of nanotechnology and quantum energy is astonishing. Whatever stands right in front of your blaster, it has few chances to get by fine."

"By the way, I'm sure it would be of an even greater help if..."

"Not a chance, Stark. I won't let your AI, Wednesday, or whatever its name is, accessing my database."

"Do you really think that now, my first concern is to hack the files of the most intelligent woman on the planet?"

"Flattered, but better safe than sorry."

Stark raised his eyebrows in an uncanny mix of annoyance and approval.

"Wait, if I understand correctly... Stark, did you fight Thanos on your own?"

Scott Lang's tone was cold. From what Loki had understood, he was among those opposing Stark two years earlier, and must certainly have faced tough consequences.

"And what's that supposed to mean? You want to know if I could've avoided all of that? If I could've stopped Thanos killing Sam, and Wanda, and Vision, and Pepper, and the kid, and..."

His voice choked up. Loki was confused. So, Stark had a child? And did he really manage to hold his own against the Titan?

"Maybe." Lang fiercely replied "Maybe I would actually like to know whether or not my daughter could have had a chance _not_ to be reduced to ashes."

The following silence was all the more meaningful. Every person in the room had a score to settle with Thanos.

* * *

"This guy might ruin everything."

"Don't you think you are a little too paranoid now?"

Morgan was furiously pacing across the bedroom, while Loki was lying on the bed, his left hand supporting his head. His right hand was busy swirling his terribly well-sharpened dagger, sometimes throwing it in the air to catch it again, only a few centimetres from his face, in a perfectly controlled gesture.

"Lang makes me nervous. I can't help it."

"I do not see why he would suddenly decide to attack you." The Asgardian tranquilly replied.

"Me neither. But still. I have no control over him or whatsoever. Not like you or Som. His conscience is not invisible, it is in constant explosion."

"A firework, as you like to say."

Morgan sighed loudly. Loki's insolent nonchalance was starting to irritate her even more. She was finding it increasingly difficult to focus.

"Don't you think that now you are the one who needs some rest?" The god taunted.

"Don't want to." She pouted, in a childish manner.

"What do you want, then?"

"End this mess, find Som, vaporize Thanos and give the Soul Stone the one-finger salute."

"I mean, within reason."

She stopped walking and leaned the back of her head against the wall.

"I don't know. I am obviously missing something, but I can't put my finger on it."

"May I be of any help?"

Morgan looked at his green eyes, which had ceased to be focused on the dagger (gone Loki-knew-where) and where now staring at her.

"I want a safe place."

"A neutral and quiet atmosphere?"

"Kind of."

Loki smiled and enlaced her. Half-a-second later, Morgan found herself surrounded by white. Neither she nor Loki was afraid, this time. Yet, she was quite reluctant to leave his embrace. And it did not seem to displease him, judging by the slight acceleration of his breath she could feel on her neck.

"What about you, Loki? What do you want?"

"You act innocent rather badly."

"I hope so."

She stood on tip-toe and kissed him, almost brutally.

"Would you like to hear me say it?" Loki whispered "To say how much I want you?"

"You have me. Nothing else than me, actually."

"This is just what I expected."

She opened her mouth to welcome his tongue. He kissed incredibly well. She pulled his body closer to her and her hands went below his shirt, caressing his chest. His hands did not remain inactive very long, caressing her back, sneaking under her shirt to massage her breasts. Why in Whatever-its-name did they still have their clothes on?

As if he had guessed her thought, Loki slid his hand in her pants and her underwear, making her moan out of delight.

"Eager?"

"Definitely."

Morgan lowered her hand towards his crotch, pleased to feel him as excited as she was. She opened his shirt, then withdrew hers. Loki unhooked her bra, caressed her chest and kissed her nipples. When he met Morgan's gaze, he could not help laughing a little.

"Your eyes are shimmering."

"I know. I cannot lie on the pleasure I feel."

Her answer seemed to thrill him. When Morgan felt the ground against her back, she could not tell if it was cold or warm. As everything else in Whatever-its-name, it was neutral. Bare.

But presently, she was naked on the bare ground, with Loki above her, as naked as her, kissing her neck and skilfully moving his finger between her legs. Her hand got down to his arousal and she started to caress him as well. They were not saying anything, just looking, moaning, shivering, in short, getting completely drunk of each other and having the best hangover one can hope for.

But maybe it could get even better, she thought, when she felt Loki's lips slowly moving from her breasts to her pubes.

"Ah! F... Firework!" She exclaimed, after his tongue replaced his fingers against her clitoris (Silvertongue, that was how he was nicknamed? Goldentongue was definitely more accurate).

He was insanely good indeed, and she had to stop him herself because he was lingering and she did not know if she could hold on very long.

"Loki... Come, I want you inside me."

He enlaced her and began to move. Morgan clasped his hips and wrapped her legs around him. She was always very direct and shameless when it came to sex. When something displeased her, she said it right away. When something pleased her, she showed it the best she could.

So, she showed. She moaned his name, then screamed it. She contemplated his robust body, his red lips, his green eyes, his long and dark hair, tangled and moist with sweat.

She straightened up a little and did not even have to ask. He laid down and she settled above him, moving rapidly, feeling the ecstasy coming closer. And suddenly, she realized how amazing this situation was.

Not only were they having sex, which already was an amazing situation in itself, but they were doing so in Whatever-its-name. This was just the greatest trick ever. They were taking pleasure in a place supposed to create sensorial deprivation. This was glorious.

Loki's talented hands all over her body made her feel like a queen. Even more, like a goddess. No time for being modest, no time for being cautious. Now was the time to make the most of every sensation she could have. So, when orgasm struck her, it seemed, and certainly was, like the best she had had in years. Outside, there was space and time, there was grief and sadness and rage, there was hope too. But in Whatever-its-name, there was nothing else than pleasure.

"I want this." Morgan started, when they both got their breath back "Again. Countless times."

"You know, I begin to think that we might actually survive all of this."

* * *

 **Pour le lectorat français, référence à Karim Debbache pour le château de cartes et Alexandre Astier pour les soixante-seize chèvres. Parce que pourquoi pas.**


	34. On the naughty step

The jingling of the swords, or whatever metal instruments, was starting to get on Morgan's nerves. This noise made it impossible to focus. Rather, this noise was the perfect excuse for her total lack of success at focusing.

"Still nothing?" Loki questioned, as if he had guessed her thoughts.

"Total void." She frowned.

Morgan did not even know why she was persisting so much. This day, as well as the day before, had been punctuated by countless attempts, followed by countless failures, to reach the Soul Stone. No matter how much nor how long she concentrated, be it in or out of Whatever-its-name, her calls remained unanswered. Something blocked the way, and she was pretty sure that this something was the Infinity Gauntlet. However, Morgan had a disagreeable feeling. If the Stone had legs, she would have said that it was _on the move_ , or whatever it meant. She didn't know where, she didn't know why, overall, there were very few things she actually knew. True, the clangs coming from outside were not helping, but Morgan doubted she could have done better without them. She uncrossed her legs and rose up, then put her jacket on. Given that she did not bring any change of clothing when she left Australia, her current outfit was not without reminding the one of the Wakandan elite female warriors, the Dora Milaje. Morgan liked the red and black jacket, and the shoes seemed well adjusted for a run (good shoes were always useful, she had learnt it quickly). She had put the knucle-duster in one of its pockets, while her hunting knife was resting in a sheath tied to her hip. Oh, and there was the grenade, too. Presently in Loki's hand.

"Going somewhere?" The latter asked.

"Since I cannot escape the noise, I might as well watch the duel."

A few seconds later, the Adder was striding across the palace, the Taipan on her shoulders.

"What about you, any interesting news on your side?"

"Not much." Loki conceded "Apart from one preoccupying thing: it seems that Banner cannot call the green beast anymore."

"Marital dispute or permanent conflict?"

"How could I know? I wish for everything but to be in his head."

"I wonder if someone is in mine, right now." Morgan hissed.

"Assuming that Thanos possesses the same powers than yours, why would he choose to spy on you only _now_?"

"This is the question I keep asking myself."

The metallic clinking sounds were becoming louder and louder, sometimes punctuated by an exclamation of surprise. When she stepped outside, it took Morgan a few seconds to get used to the bright sunlight. Then, her gaze focused on the centre of the esplanade right in front of the palace.

The show was one of a kind. Morgan could not help thinking that Black Widow was a well-deserved nickname, for someone as deadly as the former Russian spy. She moved with a fascinating speed and agility. The way she was handling the giant spear was simply spectacular.

"It's Glaive's spear..." Loki murmured.

"Glaive?"

"The weapon she uses belonged to one of Thanos' children. It can pierce the most solid matters. Very useful asset, indeed."

Morgan nodded and focused again on the fight. The woman facing Romanov was even more impressive. Tall, muscular, with dark hair, brown skin, a sword in her hand and a smug smile on her face. Even though, as an Asgardian, Valkyrie displayed superior strength and resistance, she did not seem to keep the advantage for long. The blade and the pike kept on knocking together, and the two fighters were attacking without saying a word. Sometimes, they would just smirk at each other, before swirling their weapons even more rapidly.

Little by little, Valkyrie seemed to gain the upper hand. She was obviously more used to her weapon than Romanov was to hers. She narrowly avoided a blow, in an especially risky parade, but managed to derive the tip of the spear with her sword, then kicked her opponent in the stomach. The former SHIELD agent fell on the ground, letting go of the lance under the impact. However, and Morgan only noticed it at the last moment, she was not done. She had even been calling for such an attack. Indeed, as Valkyrie got closer to immobilize her, already assuming that she had won, Romanov briskly straightened up, wrapped her legs around her adversary's neck and grabbed the hand holding the sword. The Asgardian warrior was obviously not expecting such a response and lost her balance.

"Alright, victory is yours, this time." Valkyrie winced, as Romanov was still firmly immobilizing her on her ground.

The blond woman did not wait nor gloat, she briefly nodded and rose up, extending a hand which her opponent took with a sardonic smile. Despite having won this duel, the Widow was certainly more tired than the Asgardian warrior, who hardly seemed to be short of breath at all. She definitely was in her element. Her body was used to intense training and fierce fighting, and if her haughty attitude could sometimes be a disadvantage, Morgan could not deny that it was part of her charm as well.

"I can tell you are _admiring_." Loki chuckled.

An involuntary smile appeared on Morgan's face. She had always been more prompt to be physically attracted to women than to men, however, she did not (and would never) have any established rule in this area.

"Another contender?" A seemingly detached voice interrupted.

Morgan turned her head on her left, to see Rocket, settled on a bench at a fair distance from the two women, busy repairing what looked like an enhanced machine-gun. Next to him stood Nebula, with a bored look on her face. She had visibly found the only place where she could avoid the surveillance of the Nova Corps, which meant that she had to follow on Rocket's heels, and did not seem especially happy about it. Within easy reach from her hand laid a sword, different from Valkyrie's but equally intimidating.

"... Although it's not really a victory, mind you." The Asgardian's voice came closer to their ears "Since you dropped the spear you were supposed to use, I count it a _half_ -victory."

"Well, one has to adapt to every opponent." Romanov tranquilly replied.

She put down the massive weapon, which blade was easily the size of Morgan's arm, and drank avidly to the bottle of water nearby.

"So, who's next? You?" Valkyrie winked.

"Thank you, but I chose life." Morgan calmly admitted.

"Right, it's not with this toothpick that you're going to make it a challenge for me." She chuckled, eyeing her hunting knife "What about you, are you going to stay here all day or maybe try to lift that sword of yours?"

Nebula sighed angrily. She definitely did not want to be spoken to, nor be looked at, nor... Well, was there anything she actually wanted, for a change?

"So, you're a Valkyrie, uh? Rather, _the_ Valkyrie. That's pretty cool." Rocket grinned.

"And you're _the_ Rocket. Not bad either, for a space weirdo." She laughed.

Morgan could feel Loki's amusement. Those two bounding was probably the most unexpected and yet so logical event to notice. But before they could carry on with the nicknames, another incoming voice intervened.

"Natasha... Oh, hello, all of you."

Bruce Banner had an unusual light of expectation in his eyes. He was a little short-winded, showing that he must have been hurrying across the palace to find Romanov. Whatever he had to tell her was important.

"Hey big guy!" Valkyrie told loudly, before giving him a friendly punch on the shoulder.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Black Widow frown. She had not dreamt; the fatal Russian assassin had frowned like a disconcerted teenager. It had definitely not taken long for Morgan to take notice of the uncertain atmosphere between Banner and Romanov. It was not her business to know more about it, and they visibly had a lot to tell each other, but she could see that it was equally hard for both of them to assume it. So, they pretended, very badly, that nothing had happened.

"What is it, Bruce?" The former spy inquired.

"It is done. We have finished the Vibranium shield. And Tony's armour. They are going to test them on the heliport. I thought you might want to see that!"

"Definitely."

The Widow grabbed her new weapon and followed on Banner's heels, alongside Valkyrie.

"Oh, it's about blasters and explosions. My kind of thing!" Rocket gleefully exclaimed.

"I must say, I am curious to see the result." Loki admitted.

But before Morgan could follow the rest of the group, already far ahead, an iron grip took hold of her arm. Literally.

"If you have a question, you might as well ask it."

Morgan's tone was very calm, but also very cold. Nebula's attitude was everything but reassuring. The cyborg woman was giving her a death stare, which was all the more reinforced by the shining sword her right hand was holding. She gave a very brief glance at Loki, who was completely immobile on Morgan's shoulders, ready to react to the next move if needed.

"How will you fight Thanos?" The robotic voice finally articulated.

"I did not expect you to worry about me."

"You are no warrior. I could break your arm right now, without even forcing."

"Give it a go, why don't you?" Morgan hissed.

Her voice had turned even lower, to become a whisper. A very threatening whisper. There were three kinds of conscience that challenged Morgan's powers. Those which were trained, like Romanov's and Barton's. Those which were unknown, like Lang's. And those which were broken.

Among all the people who surrounded her, no one was as close to death as Nebula. Everyone had gone through terrible hardships. Sudden, brutal, unexpected hardships. But this woman's life was made of hardships of the most extreme kind, that Morgan could tell. Not feeling any emotions was an extremely rare state, in every being's life. However, actually feeling any emotion was the rarity, in Nebula's case. Not feeling any emotion was feeling death. Morgan could control life. Not death.

Nebula was dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Morgan knew she would have no other choice than to cast an intense mental blast to have a chance to escape her, which would probably weaken her a lot.

Loki appeared more than aware of her wariness. What was usually feeling like a light, slender snake slowly crawling on her shoulders now seemed as rigid and heavy as iron. The shapeshifter was absolutely ready to take back his Asgardian form if needed, which Morgan hoped he would not do.

" _How_ were you able to spy on _him_?" The alien asked again.

"Let go of my arm and I will tell you."

Which could be translated by _none of your fucking business_ , and Nebula understood it too well.

"Look around you." Morgan added, trying to mask her growing panic "There is a man who can shrink to the size of an ant, another whose axe controls thunder, and would you like me to carry on? Are my abilities really that surprizing to you?"

"Don't play dumb with me!" Nebula warned.

She slightly raised the hand holding her sword. Which was it for Loki, Morgan supposed, because what seemed to be a domesticated inland taipan turned into an enraged god of Mischief, who jumped towards Nebula. The latter did not even have time to scream out of surprise and fell on the ground, with Loki's dagger too close to her throat.

"Wh-What..." Was the only word the cyborg managed to speak, which was not bad, for someone in her situation.

Morgan, still massaging her wrist, looked at the shocked woman whose metallic arm was firmly maintained by Loki's foot.

"Well, it appears we are screwed." She winced.

* * *

Although he did not know why, Loki had quickly noticed that Morgan was at a disadvantage in front of Nebula. He was equally aware of how fast and deadly the latter could be, consequently, better safe than sorry. At least there was no one around. The problem was what to do next.

"How did... Who are you?!"

"Not a word." Loki cut "You know I will slit your throat if you scream."

Nebula's murderous gaze could be interpreted as a yes. Loki started to examine every possible option. Option one, kill her and hide her body. Not really the easiest one, and, obviously, Rocket would end up noticing her disappearance. Option two, erase her memory. Technically, he was able to do that. But with an enormous amount of preparation and a careful study of the victim. Not available at the moment. Option three. Was there an option three?

"I think we owe her an explanation." Morgan declared, coming closer to him.

"Yeah, I think you do." The cyborg snarled, before Loki pressed his blade against her skin as a last warning.

Couldn't Morgan see that this was the worst existing timing for an explanation? Why did she- oh, right, he saw.

"Do you think this will work on her?" He smirked, even more amused at Nebula's ever greater confusion.

"Don't know." Morgan shrugged, before putting her hand on Loki's shoulder.

It appeared that it worked. Nebula was as baffled as before, but she seemed alive and well. However, being surrounded by infinite whiteness surely was not what she had in mind upon hearing "we owe her an explanation".

"I am going to release you." Loki calmly started "I strongly advise you not to attack both of us, first because you would fail, second because you would never manage to escape this place on your own. And believe me, you do not want to spend the rest of your life here."

Nebula had not moved an inch. Slowly, the Asgardian stood up, his weapon still resting in his hand but not aiming for the woman's head anymore. With even more precaution, she rose up as well, carefully staring at him.

"Alright, where should we start?" Morgan smiled nervously "First, where we are. This place has no name. I mean, it has one but it is Whatever-its-name. Second, who we are. This is Loki Odinson and I am Morgan Dumas, _enchantée_... or not."

"I must be dead. And this is not what I expected." Nebula soliloquized.

"I can assure you that you are not dead. If it reassures you, you are simply out of Space and Time." Loki sniggered.

"Out of... What do you intend to do with me?"

"We are considering the options. Fortunately, those involving your death are far too complicated to be carried out."

"You... You _are_ Loki! I remember now." Nebula realized "You were the one Thanos sent to Earth. You were tasked with finding the Tesseract."

"Thank you for reminding me, I had forgotten this tiny detail."

Morgan let a small laughter slip. Nebula looked daggers at her. Then, she came back to Loki.

"So, you were a _snake_ , the entire time! Why?!"

"Perhaps because I was on the very same planet I tried to invade."

"I know, but... There must be another reason." Nebula thought out-loud.

"Indeed." Morgan acknowledged "But you might want to sit down because this is a very long story."

If Loki and Morgan were quite used to long stories, this was obviously not Nebula's case. She was the worst possible type of audience, at least to Loki's mind, but he could hardly blame her. Whatever-its-name made her anxious, and yet, her anxiety was remarkably well controlled. Had she seen worse in her life? With Thanos as a father, most probably. Nevertheless, Nebula was tiring. She either kept interrupting them out of disbelief, either rudely cut them when they mentioned something that was, to her, useless or irrelevant.

They did not tell her everything. Mostly, they talked about what Whatever-its-name was, what the Infinity Stones were, although she already knew about the latter part, and who they were. Which was already quite a lot.

"Your powers come from the Soul Stone..."

Nebula emitted a brief, sardonic laugh.

"How ironic... Thanos tortured me in front of my sister so that she could tell him where it was hidden... And now I meet you, another bearer."

"Another bearer?!" Morgan exclaimed "Have you met someone else with the same abilities?"

"Not personally. But the reason why Gamora was sent to seek the Soul Stone is that one day, the Black Order stumbled upon a creature which had been created by it. From what I've heard, it was able to turn any other being insane by only looking at them, to make them ferocious, afraid, obedient... My sister managed to obtain some information before killing it, and headed to take the Stone before anyone else could."

"Intriguing... I wonder how the Soul Stone was able to create bearers without its physical form." Loki reflected.

"Are you really sure Thanos cannot find us here?" Nebula insisted.

"Technically, I suppose he could access Whatever-its-name, but the question is, why would he?" Morgan pointed out "This place has no meaning and makes no sense. I doubt he would be curious about it."

"Then, the real question is, what to do now?" Loki replied "Thanos may read your thoughts and become aware of my existence."

"He won't." Nebula coldly asserted.

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"My thoughts do not matter. He does not see me as a threat. I am not worthy of his attention; do you see what I mean?"

Loki saw. Morgan's father, his own father? Peanuts. Thanos really was considering himself as a god. No one, even his own "children" was on the same level than him.

Furthermore...

" _An ant has no quarrel with a boot."_

He had done a similar thing. Overestimating himself. Underestimating his opponents.

"Indeed, that explains why he called me "little one" when I met him." Morgan added, interrupting his reflexion "A way to treat me like a child on the naughty step because I cannot understand anything."

"I can be of help." Nebula suddenly offered.

"How so?"

A sardonic grin appeared on the cyborg's face.

"Do you really think yourself able to come close to Thanos? That plan of yours is very smart, I grant you that, but you need much greater speed and strength only to have a chance to reach him."

"Let me just say, first, I run very fast. Second, I have a super-powerful knuckle-duster. Third... Okay, you're right. I don't stand a chance."

Did Loki dream it, or did the smile on Nebula's face appear a little sincerer?

"It is a risky bet." The Asgardian warned "Either we kill him, either he kills us. There is no middle-ground."

"All my life, I have waited for revenge. If there is a chance, I will take it, whatever the risks are. Just make sure you reach your target."

"I will." Loki affirmed.

The familiar contact of his dagger was like a tangible promise. In the end, it would finish exactly like it started. With a stab. Not the most spectacular move, true, but a stab with the most solid steel in the universe. And an additional guarantee. An invisible one.

"But I want to be sure." Nebula continued "I want to be sure that he cannot find out. You told me you could make anyone's soul undetectable. Do it with mine."

"Oh, I would rather not." Morgan answered "You may not be a complete stranger to me anymore, but I know for sure that it will be painful."

"I am used to pain."

"This is not the usual kind of pain."

"Pain's just pain. That's all."

Morgan winced. Clearly, she was not comfortable either with this idea, Loki noticed, but there was no other solution. When he had asked for her power, he had done so knowing what to expect, knowing _her_. In Nebula's case, the thirst for revenge was her sole motivation. It was as much an asset as a weakness.

"Do it." Nebula repeated, seeing Morgan's hesitation.

"Alright. Try not to resist, please."

It all happened in a handful of seconds. The same way she did for Loki, Morgan raised her hands to the woman's temples, and her eyes became bright golden.

No scream of pain, no physical fit of panic, nothing of that sort. But Loki's eyes widened with surprise when he saw how Nebula was.

Afraid, angry, desperate, lost, and he could carry on for a long time. Her breath was heavy. She fell on her knees, unable to say a word. Eyes closed, fists tightened, her whole body was trembling.

"I can..." Morgan began.

"No! Don't... come... close... to me..." She articulated, extending her metallic arm in front of her.

Morgan did not insist. She took a few steps backwards, where Loki was. She looked sad and resigned.

"I destroy." Were her only words.

* * *

She shouldn't have done it. She should have lied, told Nebula that it was impossible.

It was not the same thing with Som and Loki. They knew her, she knew them. They shared their conscience with her, she shared her conscience with them. Metaphorically speaking, then literally.

The alien woman was still on her knees, not moving. Morgan wanted to punch herself. This was the worst thing one could inflict to a living being. Nothing could justify it.

"You also create." Loki suddenly whispered.

She wanted to believe that. She truly wanted. But she could not refrain this growing feeling of self-disgust. Nebula did not want that. She wanted to kill Thanos, she did not want to share her conscience. But Morgan's powers were brutal. In a second, she had intruded all of the woman's emotions, most of them being beyond the meaning of painful, and had made them invisible.

Nebula was desperately trying to retrieve a normal breath. Loki's dagger disappeared and he took a few steps towards her.

"Don't... touch me!" She groaned, still hunched.

"Let me help you." He calmly suggested.

"I don't... need... your help!"

"We need yours, so you might as well accept ours."

For a couple of seconds, there was no reaction on the woman's side. Then, little by little, she turned her head towards Loki and opened her eyes. Morgan observed him slowly advancing his hand to touch Nebula's forehead. The effect seemed much less noticeable than when he had dulled the pain of her broken hand, but gradually, the cyborg's shivers faded.

"I am sorry." Morgan murmured.

Most of all, she was ashamed. How could she not think about the devil her father feared?

"You better not." Nebula suddenly ordered "If you feel sorry in a fight, you're dead."

Morgan was astonished. Alright, Loki had helped, but the speed of her recovery was simply incredible.

"So, now, no one can read my thoughts?"

"No one can _find_ your thoughts, actually. I did not strengthen your conscience, I hid it. And yet, I wonder..."

"What?!" Loki and Nebula asked at the same time.

"I don't know!" Morgan sighed loudly "For a couple of days, I've had the feeling that the Soul Stone was... there, but not really there either. As if there was a spy among us, and I cannot tell why!"

"Why would Thanos suddenly spy on you if, like me, he does not consider you a worthy opponent?" Nebula inquired.

A worthy opponent.

Morgan's breath stopped. Everything suddenly became crystal clear. And it terrified her.

She had been arrogant, again, failing to admit that it had not been about her. She was not a threat to Thanos. He never spied on her. He spied on the _real_ threat.

"It made you realize something, and whatever that is, it is definitely not good." Loki observed.

"We should run." Morgan said feebly.

* * *

When they reappeared on the esplanade, Loki changed back into his Taipan form, Nebula grabbed her sword, and they ran.

Morgan was running fast, at the same speed than the alien woman, who was considering her with a surprised, perhaps slightly impressed look.

"This way!" Morgan shouted, clasping Nebula's wrist as the latter was about to go in the opposite direction.

The palace was a real maze. Nebula and Morgan dashed towards the heliport, ignoring the astounded Wakandan guards here and there.

They could manage it. Yes, they could manage to warn them. And maybe she had been entirely wrong. Maybe Thanos was not spying on them at all...

But she could not ignore this terrible feeling of doubt. This intense fear creeping down her back.

There were all here. Romanov and Banner, Valkyrie and Thor, Okoye and Shuri, Rhodes, Barton, Lang, Rocket, Rhomann Dey. And Steve Rogers, who was holding the most impressive shield Morgan had ever seen; the black Vibranium structure included three circles shining with blue light. And, of course, right in front of them stood the iconic red and yellow armour, which torso and hand blasters were glimmering with quantum energy as well.

"STARK!" Nebula shouted.

"What now?" He sighed, opening his helmet.

"He knows!" Morgan articulated, almost out of breath "Thanos knows... He knows your name! He knows about all of this! We have to..."

But she could not finish her sentence, due to the intense blue light that forced her to cover her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw a gigantic individual stepping out of what surely was a dimensional portal.

"Good guess, little one. But a little too late." Thanos grinned.

* * *

 **Yep. Shit's getting really real. For real. Okay, guys, serious business ahead:**

 **It's been exactly six months since I started to publish this story and I can't thank enough those who take the time to leave a review. Yes I'm looking at you, AnadoraBlack, CurtisMcQueen and Soy (SOY the BOY). I'm looking at you and throwing you flowers. I'm looking at you and making you cookies with a very disturbing erotic look- okay, you got the idea. And Nayruh, what can I say apart from you rock? You're the Tyrion Lannister of this story, always something to say (without the wine though. Or maybe?)**

 **Anyway, the thing is, I have, for the first time in six months, to take a longer break than ten days between my publications.**

 **Waitwaitwait it's not over, it's not oveeer! I may be nicknamed Miss Hanger (by a Nayruh I won't name) but what's left of my human empathy simply can't leave you with this type of ending, so you will have the next chapter next week. And I will try to end it on a not-too-cliffangery note. But the thing is, I have to take a break because I have no more chapters left. To give you an idea, I wrote most of this story during summer, and from mid-September on, I wrote chapters 34 and 35. Yep, not much time left now. But it's soon December, so I can use Christmas break as the perfect excuse, yay.**

 **Don't worry, the fight is coming. And I want it to be a good fight, so I will spend time writing what I hope will be good chapters.**

 **Talking about fights, you may wonder how Natasha was able to fight, and even win, against Valkyrie? Well, Valkyrie holds herself back, otherwise she would kill her only by punching her. And since Black Widow's techniques are about using her opponent's strength, and that Valkyrie is not used to fight this way, I think a victory was possible. Same with Morgan running at equal speed with Nebula (she is fast for a human but she doesn't have any enhanced strength or endurance). Since Morgan knows the palace much better than Nebula, the latter doesn't know where to go so she can't run at full speed.**

 **One last thing, about Thor's remark on DNA as "the power of thunder": I think Thor knows what DNA is, but on Asgard, it probably has another name than deoxyribonucleic acid (maybe it's something like "psychic essence", dunno).**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! La bise!**


	35. Wonders never cease

The Murphy Law is a funny thing.

Universal truths generally are funny things, when we think about it.

Anyway, it is hard to know who exactly coined the Murphy Law, but one thing is certain, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

For example, when a group of desperate people designs extremely powerful weapons which could help them defeating the destroyer of half the universe, only to find out that the latter destroyer has been spying on them all the time.

Just saying.

* * *

For two long seconds, every single individual present on the heliport of the Wakandan capital remained petrified. Morgan included. She barely had the time to take a look at the Titan's face that she heard an enraged voice, more like the groan of a wounded wolf.

"You dare... YOU DARE!"

It was Thor. Faster than anyone else, the god of Thunder screamed his despair and fury with all his might, rushing towards the Universe's most hated being.

"W-Wait..." Was all she could stammer.

Then, everything happened in the blink of an eye.

Thanos was smiling, of that Morgan was sure. But it was not the sarcastic, Loki-type-of-smile, on the contrary, it was more of a melancholic, resigned smile, as if the Titan had foreseen every moment that was to come. Then came the flashes and the sounds.

Pure chaos. Ultimate abyss. Absolute topsy-turviness. Morgan suddenly felt a gaping pit under her feet, immediately followed by the dreadful sensation of fall, which grabbed her stomach like a hook. She could not think, even less scream. All around her shone what she could not help but naming mandalas of bright blue light. Confused voices resonated around her. Names, mostly. She recognized some of them.

" _Steve!"_

" _Natasha!"_

" _Tony!"_

And suddenly, everything stood still. The smell of fresh earth was the first thing that her brain managed to recognize. Morgan took a deep breath. She realized that she was lying face down in the grass. Its scent was peculiar. Something like mint.

"Morgan?"

She shivered when taipan-Loki slid down her shoulders.

"Are you hurt?"

"N-no." She coughed, spitting the dust she had in her mouth "What h-happened?"

"He used the Space Stone. He teleported us. Where to, I cannot tell."

Carefully, Morgan straightened up. She was not wounded, just severely disoriented. This kaleidoscopic travel was not without reminding their escape of Whatever-its-name.

" _I am Alice in Wonderland and the rabbit is more purple than I thought."_

She looked around her. At first glance, the landscape was quite pleasant. She was surrounded by verdurous hills, enlightened by the morning sunlight. Some dew was still visible on the grass. Had not she been brutally sent there, she could have appreciated this place. And it was a safe bet that the latter place was the Scarecrow planet. Morgan was relieved to be still alive. That is to say, to be still able to breathe. She even found breathing _easier_. The proportion of oxygen molecules in the air was probably higher than on Earth. Gravity seemed to be more or less the same, though.

"You're alright?"

Morgan jumped with surprise. She had forgotten that Nebula was now the third person in the world actually able to sneak up on her (fourth, if she included Thanos), which was all but an agreeable sensation.

"Y-yes." She managed to say "But I don't think I will be very long."

At the sight of Nebula firmly holding her sword, she thought it right to grab her knuckle-duster. Her head rose towards the sky, where the War Machine combat suit appeared a few seconds later. Its occupant landed right in front of them, opening his helmet.

"Okay, you two. Did you know that this was gonna happen? What the hell happened, actually?"

"In short, our surprise effect fell through. Thanos spied on us -well, more exactly, on Stark- all along." Morgan summed up.

"What? How did he- yeah, ultimate power, makes sense. Where is he now? Where _are_ _we_? If you know anything else, Adder, you better say it right now!" Rhodes angrily replied.

"I am as lost as you, if it reassures you! The only thing I know is that Thanos teleported us away from Wakanda. Why so, I don't know!"

"He wants a proper battlefield." A fourth voice answered.

The trio turned towards Bruce Banner, who was accompanied by Natasha Romanov. Although the former spy had not dropped Corvus Glaive's spear, the scientist had not taken anything suitable for a fight, which was a problem, if what Loki had heard about the Hulk was true. However, and perhaps paradoxically, Banner seemed the least anxious of all. Without being entirely serene, he had a very calm attitude in a perfectly unknown situation. Even a trained secret agent like Black Widow was finding it difficult to dissimulate her nervousness, but he had quickly acknowledged the sudden change of situation. Only at this moment did Morgan realize how powerful Bruce Banner was. All things considered, he probably was one of their best assets for such a scenario.

"A proper battlefield? What do you mean?" Rhodes asked.

"He won the war. His objective is accomplished." The physicist steadily explained "I guess he doesn't want to cause any other civilian casualties, since the people who are left are the ones he _saved_."

"Incredibly twisted, but rational, in a way." Romanov sighed.

"One might even call it heroic."

The latter declaration was followed by a collective shiver of disbelief.

"You..." Rhodes began, choking under the overflow of rage "Don't you-"

But he could not finish his sentence. He could not make the slightest move either. No one could. Morgan did not have any control over her body. She could not walk. She could not turn her head. She could not even open her mouth. The only things she still managed to do was to breathe and to blink. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that all the others were in the same situation. Everyone had been trapped in some grotesque position of surprise, especially War Machine and Nebula, who had begun to raise their weapons towards the giant. Having been stopped so rapidly and so easily made Morgan feel nauseous. She could not do anything. Neither could Loki, judging by the total absence of movement on her shoulders.

"I had no other choice." Thanos calmly began "You would not have listened, otherwise."

He began to walk around them, paying close attention to each member of the group.

"I must say, you are very surprising, Doctor Banner. You and the... Hulk. What an unusual phenomenon."

He was using the Mind Stone, and not the Space Stone, as Morgan had previously thought. Not only was he reading everyone's thoughts, but he had also managed to freeze the control their brain exerted over the rest of their body.

"Natasha Romanov." Thanos slowly articulated, facing the former Russian spy "You may not have ended my brave son's life and yet you carry his weapon."

Deep down, Morgan was happy not to have Black Widow in her field of vision, for she was sure that the latter's heinous gaze would have been enough to kill her on the spot.

"You must be tired of fighting, colonel Rhodes."

He was probably referring to the man's exoskeleton, which maintained both of his legs. Morgan had not asked how he had it, for she had no interest nor misplaced curiosity in knowing it. Thanos' examination of their minds out-loud was sickening.

"Of course, you would be there, _daughter_."

He had almost spat the word. He was standing in front of Nebula, on Morgan's right. She suddenly realized how tall he was. How powerful he looked. Without even wearing the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos was a killing machine. However, ...

It was a nice however. Morgan liked the however. Not like whatever. What was she thinking, again?

"And you. You cannot say I didn't warn you, little adder."

Morgan could not think, she simply _could not_. Would Thanos not had frozen her body, she would have stayed petrified by fear. The giant seemed invincible. What could she possibly do against him?

"You all saw what I am capable of." The Titan serenely declared "I do not blame your hate towards me. But you have to understand that you cannot defeat me. Admit it, and I will send you back to Earth. I do not wish to kill anyone else."

So, Banner was right. His sacred duty, as he put it, was over. However, ...

Morgan suddenly felt less afraid. Since the only thing she was able to do was breathing, she breathed. Slowly. Steadily. However, two things.

However number one, if none of them stood any chance against him, why did Thanos bother to intervene?

However number two, although the Titan seemed stronger than ever, it was not the case of the Gauntlet. The item was cracked, one would even say rusty.

Fragile, maybe?

Breakable?

By quantum energy?

Had Morgan been able to, she would have grinned.

"You are wondering how I spied on Stark, colonel?" Thanos suddenly asked, turning back to Rhodes "Well, it is thanks to your new friend. It appears she did not tell you about her connection with the Soul Stone."

 _Fucker._

Thanos casted a severe look at her, and she felt a shiver down her spine.

"I must say, I am grateful to you. Your incursion made me realize the extent of the Soul Stone's power. An ambiguous one, indeed. Now tell me, little adder, what other secrets are you hiding?"

No answer came, partially because Morgan could not talk, but mostly because of the arrow that Thanos had to catch a few millimetres away from his face. Which exploded -the arrow, not his face- a quarter of a second later.

Morgan brutally regained the control of her body, and fell on the ground due to this unexpected sensation. Her limbs were suddenly aching, the kind of pain she would feel after having run a marathon. But she had never run any marathon. She did not like marathons.

 _Focus Morgan, focus._

Everyone around her was also trying to get their breath back, while the Titan had hardly been affected by the blast. No scar nor trace of burn was visible on his face.

"Do not make me lose patience." Thanos groaned, crushing the arrow he was still holding into a thousand piece.

He then closed his fist and the blue glimmer surrounding the Space Stone intensified. One second later, Clint Barton fell from the portal he had just created. He seemed disoriented and short of breath as well, but could not refrain a little smirk, and Morgan decided that this man had to live.

Thanos prevented the archer from seizing his weapons by grabbing his neck with his other hand, and lifted him from the ground. Ronin's struggle to free himself was ineffective. Even though Thanos was not strangling him, he was not leaving him enough space to breathe properly.

"Interesting technology, _agent Barton_." He grinned, after the Mind Stone shone again "But I can see every single one of your tricks. Even him!"

This time, the Power Stone appeared on stage, surrounding the Gauntlet with a bright purple aura. Not only did the blow propel Barton a few feet away, but it also returned Scott Lang back to his normal size. He landed next to Morgan, and opened his helmet, panting.

"Bastard... Don't worry, you'll get yours... Just wait 'till I'm eighty feet tall." He groaned.

"When will you learn? I can see every thought. I can predict every move. Stop degrading yourself ignoring it!"

The way Thanos was speaking, while casually blocking War Machine's shots, then easily avoiding Black Widow's attacks, made him sound horribly right. Then, he created another shockwave that knocked them down as well, and was strong enough to make Morgan, Nebula and Bruce Banner lose their balance.

"We have to stop him. Now." Morgan painfully articulated.

"I was about to say the same." Loki hissed.

However, as she was about to get up, she felt a change in the atmosphere. A familiar feeling. It was both dread and excitement, as it happened before any thunderstorm.

"Here comes the cavalry." She smirked.

* * *

Loki was afraid. There was no point denying it. The memory of Thanos' cruel grin while he was crushing his throat was all too vivid. He wanted this to be over. He wanted all of this to be over.

Suddenly, he heard it. The noise of thunder. He heard him. His brother.

Thor's eyes were bright, shining with electricity, and he sent, as he liked to put it, the biggest lightning blast in the history of lightning towards their enemy.

But what followed was even more impressive. The bolt stopped. The bolt _literally_ stopped. Thor, Loki, Morgan, and all the others found themselves surrounded by what looked like a giant tree of dazzling light, which innumerable branches were immobile in the sky. This surreal vision reminded Loki of another fight. It seemed like several lifetimes had passed since his duel against Thor on Asgard. But now was not the time to get dragged into his own memories.

His brother landed roughly not far away from them, casting a hateful and astonished look at Thanos. The latter had closed his fist once again. On it was shining a green light.

"Even you, Asgardians, cannot escape time."

Loki was astounded. The Time Stone. In the blink of an eye, the lightning vanished, as if nothing had ever happened. Which was true, in a way.

"Last time, you had the advantage of surprise." Thanos declared "It is no longer the case."

Oh, how much Loki would have loved to see his brother wounding the Titan, how much he wanted to make him pay for all the suffering he had caused, the killing of the Asgardians, the torment of his mind, and the whiteness, the infinite whiteness he had endured.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Thor suddenly cut.

Loki had to acknowledge, his brother knew how to make an entrance. But there was a contender among his companions.

Indeed, in less than a second, Stark dove from the sky at full speed and fired both his blasters at Thanos. The blow was colossal. Nothing comparable to the already painful shots Loki had received in the chest.

And it was becoming better and better. Because the force field created by the Space Stone shattered.

Thanos was thrusted on the ground by the impact. For the first time since he had teleported them on this unknown planet, Loki saw his accursed serene look disappear.

Stark landed alongside Thor. Morgan got up, soon followed by Nebula and Scott Lang. Rhodes, Barton, the Widow, and Banner were laboriously rising as well. Everyone's gaze was marked by satisfaction to finally see the so-called master of the Universe lose some of his splendour.

"I will end you." Was Stark's only sentence.

He rushed towards the Titan, who just had the time to close his fist and shoot a ray of purple light, which was not only blocked but quickly repulsed by the inventor's blasts.

Stark did not stop there. He attacked again, and again, flying around his enemy, shooting with incredible precision as soon as he saw an opening. He was almost immediately joined by Thor, who directed powerful lightning blasts at his opponent, and swung his axe at him every time he could get closer. Thanos was on the defensive. Continuously assaulted as he was by two powerful adversaries, he did not have the time to strike back, and had to protect himself with energy barriers created by the Space and the Power Stone, sometimes green circles forged by the Time Stone, but all were short-lived, either destroyed by Storm-breaker or annihilated by quantum energy.

"Should we let them finish the job?" Rhodes suggested.

Loki did not hear the reply, if anyone had the time to reply at all. The only thing he saw and felt was water.

Water?

That was not...

Water. Surprise. Choking. Cannot think. Not taking back his normal form. But he needs to. Cannot swim. Cannot think. Feeling Morgan moving. And...

Air. Finally, air. He breathed rapidly, not even knowing how he had managed to maintain his transformation. Next to him, Morgan was on her knees, coughing and trembling. She extended a hand to help Nebula getting out of the water but the latter ignored it and furiously stood up. All the other Avengers were as shocked as them, and when Loki turned his head towards Thanos, his suspicion was confirmed. The red light of the Reality Stone was brighter than ever. He had turned a large portion of the ground into a deep lake, reversing the surprise effect. Thor and Stark were struggling to come back to the embankment. Both were clearly not at their advantage in the water, one having to maintain his massive axe, the other slowed down by a metal armour.

Thanos was looking down on them, with the same smile on his face, and Loki immediately wished to strangle him. But the Reality Stone continued to glow and suddenly the water surrounding his brother rose, then brutally froze. Thor and Stark found themselves trapped in a wave of ice, with only their head and shoulders free.

"You coward!" Thor spat.

"Clearly, everyone who is not you is a coward, Asgardian." The Titan scoffed "Your mind is narrow. Contrary to you, I know how to make the best use of my weapon."

"Get away from them!" Barton suddenly shouted, right after having emerged from the lake.

The archer notched an arrow to his bow, but the latter arrow turned to ice straight away.

"Damn you..." He cursed "DAMN YOU!"

Thanos cast a rapid look at him and shrugged. Then, his attention came back to his two main opponents, who were desperately struggling to free themselves. Of course, it was no ordinary ice. Thor was at the mercy of the unpredictable Reality Stone.

No. Not again.

"So, just one stone at the time? Pretty lame."

Morgan.

Of course.

She had spoken with the arrogant and haughty tone that was now so familiar to Loki. She was standing straight, arms on her hips, in the most defiant posture she could take. Taipan-Loki was not outdone, and hissed at Thanos, insolently settled on Morgan's shoulders.

"Honestly, this is not what I would call making the best use of your weapon." She continued "If I were you, I would use several stones at the same time. We would all be defeated without even realizing it."

A menacing grin appeared on the giant's face, while Nebula and Barton looked at her as if she was insane.

She kind of was.

Loki could not be prouder.

"But the thing is, you cannot. Your poor gauntlet is too fragile now." She taunted "You weakened your own weapon, and using it with the same intensity would turn it to dust."

"Can there be more arrogant and presumptuous humans?" The Titan scorned.

"Well, if there are, you killed half of them."

"If we make it out alive, I pay your drinks." Barton suddenly told Morgan.

"Go ahead, I dare you to use all six stones on me." She pursued, spreading her arms "Maybe five? Alright, let's say four. Or three, at a pinch? Not even two? Honestly, I'm disappointed."

"I hope that you enjoyed your little swaggering speech." Thanos sniggered, before turning the Gauntlet towards her.

But instead of using one of the stones on Morgan, the Titan found himself overwhelmed by a torrent of bullets, which did not seem to hurt him much but was enough to slow him down and made him lose his focus.

"Ha! You like that, purple maniac?! Don't worry, we've got more in stock!" Rocket exclaimed, without stopping his machine gun, alongside Rhomann Dey. The latter also had a very contented smile on his face.

Thor used the welcomed distraction to struggle more intensely, and multiple cracks appeared in the ice around his body.

"Don't worry Point Break, I've got incoming assistance." Stark assured.

Indeed, a few seconds later, his chest started to glow even more intensely, which also began to break their hindrance apart. Thanos turned back to them with a furious look, raising his Gauntlet again, but the latter found a shield in its way.

The noise itself made by the shock of the Infinity Gauntlet and the quantum shield was impressive. Rogers held on under the impact, allowing Thor and Stark to break free.

"I remember you... Uncanny human as well..." Thanos observed.

"Not nice to meet you." Was the Soldier's only response.

Then, he attacked at impressive speed, throwing his shield at Thanos' face, then letting Stark fire his blaster, finally opening the way to Thor's lightning. The three of them were perfectly synchronized. But suddenly, Loki caught sight of the yellow light which characterized the Mind Stone, and soon after, five other images of Thanos surrounded the trio.

"Illusions. Amateur." Loki hissed

"The real one is the second on the left." Morgan quickly informed Barton.

She had barely finished her sentence that the arrow reached its target, right into Thanos' forearm, above the Gauntlet, and blew up soon after.

"What the...! What was that?!" Morgan exclaimed.

"That's the combination of a detonator and this genocidal alien's blood. I've reinforced my weapons so that they can provoke a maximum effect only when in contact with his DNA." Barton proudly answered.

And it seemed to have worked. It would certainly take much more to cut the Titan's arm, yet it had been enough to make all his illusions disappear and at least to make him bleed. This first step strongly increased the Avengers' ardour. As soon as Thanos tried to create other illusions to destabilize his adversaries, another trio of fighters took over. Black Widow and Nebula furiously swirled their blade, and were soon joined by Valkyrie. The Asgardian warrior had nothing in common with the nonchalant person who was training in Wakanda. Her face was distorted by anger, and she was attacking without respite.

Thanos had wrapped an aura of purple light created by the Power Stone around him, but even with this protection, the continuous assaults were driving him into a corner. The rain of bullets, the storm of blades, and pure energy. After all, this could very well be the end. After all, they might win.

"I will not wait any longer." Loki warned.

"Me neither." Morgan acquiesced.

"What are you saying?" Barton questioned.

"I just want to get this over, whether you like it or not."

"Why would I not-"

Barton could not finish his sentence. Loki caught a glimpse of a dim orange light surrounding him, as well as Scott Lang. Both men fell on their knees, without saying a word. Their eyes expressed nothing else than absolute terror.

The god of Mischief immediately knew. The last stone. One would say, the most unfit for a battle. Thus, the most dangerous.

"All of you... Learnt nothing!" Thanos accused "Absolutely nothing! I gave the Universe a chance, and you refuse to see it."

Loki realized that Morgan was the only one still standing up. Everyone else could not make a single move. They were all... Crying.

"You are all children... Ignoring the fact that life is suffering. Only in pain can you find peace."

Word for word, the Soul Stone had created a shockwave of grief. All the people around were overwhelmed by an intense and brutal sadness. This was sickening. Rotten to the core. Lang, the closest to them, could not stand up, shaken by violent sobs.

"Cassie..." He articulated "I'm sorry, oh Cassie, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

If there was a way to be even more abhorred, well, Thanos had served it up on a platter.

Morgan started to walk. Loki could feel her remarkably controlled fury. His own rage lightened like a fire when he saw his brother unable to move, paralyzed by sorrow. Thanos turned to them, apparently not surprised. He was covered with minor wounds. But it was far from enough.

"So, little adder. Will you kill me, as you promised?" He smirked.

"I WILL KILL YOU!"

Nebula's heinous scream preceded her attack. She dashed towards the Mad Titan, putting all her strength in what looked like a desperate attempt to face him.

"You still stand... Wonders never cease." Thanos admitted, while countering each move "Is it because you have no soul? Would I have torn it off alongside your limbs?"

Nebula shouted her ire and her despair, attacking even more violently, even more recklessly. But suddenly, Thanos managed to grab her wrist and twisted it. The following noise was gruesome, but Nebula did not even scream out of pain. She continued to stare at Thanos, in an ultimate defying attitude. The Titan delivered a colossal punch, which threw her on the ground, unconscious.

"And then, what?" He said, turning back to Morgan, who was now facing him "What do you decide?"

"I am no match for such a fight." She admitted, lowering her head.

And then, stood up, brandishing her hunting knife towards Thanos' head. Deformed by a sadistic grin. The Titan had casually caught her arm, preventing her from moving or running away.

"How ironic..." He laughed.

The hand wearing the Gauntlet, with the Soul Stone still shining, took hold of her throat. Then, the Titan turned to Thor, not far away, still uncapable of standing up. His face was marked by horror.

"I am sure it brings back some memories, doesn't it, god of Thunder?"

He took his time to raise Morgan from the ground.

"N-no..." Thor articulated, his voice muffled by sobs "D-don't..."

"And yet, I will. I will kill this insolent little adder, as I killed your pathetic little brother."

"Loki!"

Morgan had called and Loki answered. He hit. More exactly, he plunged his dagger right into Thanos' throat.

* * *

The Titan could not believe his eyes. Perfect.

"You..." He stammered "You..."

His voice was blocked by stupefaction, but mostly by the flow of purple blood running from his wound.

"Me." Loki sneered "I keep my promises. Didn't I pledge to you my undying fidelity? You will die before me!"

The god plunged his dagger a second time into Thanos' throat. His hand was covered in blood, but that was the least of his concerns. Fear, satisfaction and adrenaline submerged him.

The Titan had dropped Morgan, who was taking rapid inspirations, but could not help smiling as well. Thanos fell on his knees, awkwardly attempting to block the flow of blood trickling down his neck. Now his head was almost at the same level than Loki's. The trickster brutally withdrew his blade from his enemy's skin, making the cut even larger and deeper.

"Loki..."

Thor's voice. Here. Right behind him. The power of the Soul Stone was starting to fade, but tears were still running down his cheeks, and looked at him with total incomprehension. His gaze expressed a painful fight between hope and anxiety.

"Brother..." Loki articulated "I am here."

"What the... _Loki_?!"

Oh right, everyone else could also see him now, Stark included.

"You... Wretched _snake_!" Thanos groaned.

Out of the corner of his eye, the god of Mischief saw the Reality Stone glowing, and a red aura surrounded all of the Titan's wounds. The two large cuts on his throat suddenly healed.

As expected.

"Did you really think it would be that simple?" Thanos grinned.

But he did not manage to get up. His body still appeared weak. And Loki was still looking at him scornfully. Morgan stood at his side, contemplating the being who had made her suffer so much.

"Wh... What did you..."

"Snakes have fangs, have you forgotten that?" Morgan smiled.

"Powerful venom." Loki added, all the more delighted by Thanos' confused look "And when combined with your blood, unescapable."

Thanos was the one with a narrow mind. The Reality Stone may have closed up all visible wounds, but the Titan did not think for a second about an invisible and much deadlier weapon.

Time to end this. Loki raised his dagger again.

"Wait!" Nebula suddenly exclaimed "He's MINE!"

The cyborg was staggering towards them, clutching her sword. True, Loki admitted, no one else than her was more legitimate to kill him.

"I want to look at him right in the eyes when he dies."

Loki and Morgan briefly looked at each other, then moved aside.

The Titan was still on his knees but has closed his eyes. Nebula raised her sword. Her eyes were filled with tears.

"For Gamora." She whispered.

"Ga... mo... ra..."

Almost inaudible whisper from Thanos. Suddenly, a bright orange glow surrounded him, making him almost disappear. And another figure, smaller and thinner, appeared right in front of the cyborg. It was a woman of approximately the same height, with green skin.

"S-sister?" Nebula choked, unable to move further.

It was a projection, Loki realized. Gamora's body was also surrounded by a dim orange light. Which meant...

"Nebula!" Morgan warned "Kill him now!"

But Gamora's image suddenly disappeared, replaced by Thanos, all too real.

More powerful than ever.

More enraged than ever.

Loki felt a cold shiver down his spine. Next to him, Morgan stared at the Titan with a look of pure terror on her face, while Nebula could not say anything, too confused, too lost.

"Didn't you also tell me, little snakes, that I would never be a god?" He smirked.

The Asgardian knew. The Soul Stone was still bright. They had failed. There was no chance to win. There had never been any chance to win.

"But gods control life. And more. They control _death_."

* * *

 **Okay... Yeah, I know, I'm late! But fight scenes, people, fight scenes... They are the hardest of all! So, I want your opinion, because as you can see, IT'S NOT OVER YET! And sorry about the cliff-hanger but basically, I can't stop anywhere otherwise, in that kind of scene, every possible end is a cliff-hanger. So, to you, which scene is the most badass? Thor's entrance? Iron Man's? Steve saving them both? Barton hitting Thanos? Morgan's speech? Loki's appearance? Or Thanos himself?**

 **Little precisions, for those who can get confused by the amount of characters:**

 **\- Neither Shuri nor Okoye is here, Thanos didn't teleport them on the Scarecrow planet. So, as someone no one had heard about said, let's do a headcount here: Morgan, Loki, Thor, Steve, Tony, Scott, Clint, Natasha, Bruce, Rhodes, Valkyrie, Nebula, Rocket and Rhomann Dey**

 **\- If anyone by any chance watches _Steven Universe_ , yes, the shockwave of grief is a reference to Blue Diamond (and now 90% of my readers are "wut?")**

 **\- There will be badass moments. There will be really disturbing ones. Hey, fight against a twisted genocidal Titan, y'know... Some angst to come, I guess.**

 **Answer to Dad of Soy: First off, about Som, man, you're evil. And indeed, you put the finger on an interesting point. I also want to explore other "perspectives" if I may say, but as the story alternates between Morgan and Loki since the beginning, I need a good reason to do so. I have one up my sleeve, you'll see in a couple of chapters. And yes, I'll do my best not to make the narrator's interventions too clumsy! Thank you so much for your review!**


	36. Failed again

Not fair.

That's not fair, Morgan wanted to scream.

" _Vivian, that's not fair! You cheated!"_

Exactly. Soul Stone, that's not fair. You cheated.

"The snakes seem to have lost their tongue." Thanos grinned, bringing her back to the present moment.

Morgan could not describe what followed.

Pain. Just pain. That was it. Pain was all that existed and would ever exist.

It took her long seconds to realize what had happened. She was lying on the ground, gasping for air, after a colossal shockwave, most probably from the Power Stone, had propelled her away from Thanos.

"She is still conscious... Can you see me?"

Familiar voice but she had forgotten the name of its owner, the commander of the space cops, with curly hair. Morgan could not hear clearly. Let's not even think about talking. Every breath she was taking was beyond the meaning of excruciating. She had landed on her back, and prayed for not having a broken spine.

Loki, where was Loki?

"Whaaaat the _heck_?!"

Rocket's voice. Morgan struggled to get up, but only managed to lean on her elbows, still far from having recovered a normal breath. Rocket and Rhomann Dey -that was the name- were standing next to her, but their gazes were focused on someone else, further away.

Suddenly, a terrible scream made her realize what had become of Loki.

When she raised her head towards Thanos, Morgan saw him directing the Gauntlet towards the ground. No, towards Loki. The Power Stone shone again. And he screamed.

Morgan would never have imagined to hear such a cry of pain. She had seen him lost, desperate, enraged, but she had never seen him agonizing.

Because that was the sound of pure agony. Loki was wriggling on the ground, unable to escape the purple energy which was wrapped around his body like a net. Morgan could feel his panic, unable to escape this cloud of pure pain.

"S-stop... L-l-leave h-him..." She stammered, still focusing on her staggering limbs in order to face the Titan once again.

They were going to die. It was a certainty, now. And it was going to be an extremely painful death.

 _I am sorry, Som. I did the best I could._

Next to her, a groan of pain indicated that Nebula had undergone the same treatment than her. Nebula, had she not hesitated, they could have...

No. No point to think about it, now.

"What is this?! Stop your mind trick!" Thor shouted.

Him and Stark were the ones standing the closest to Thanos. The Titan stopped using the Power Stone to glance at them, and a scornful grin appeared on his face.

Gone was the serenity he displayed when he appeared. The only thing Morgan and Loki had managed to do was to piss him off.

Well done.

"A mind trick, Asgardian? How can you be so sure of that? Doesn't it look real to you?"

At his feet, Loki was not moving. Morgan saw that his green and black battle outfit was torn at many places, revealing burnt skin, as if the Power Stone's energy was eating him alive. Tears of dread and helplessness filled her eyes.

This was NOT FAIR. He had suffered enough.

But nothing was fair in a war. No one suffered too much.

"How... How dare you make use of my brother's memory?!" Thor exclaimed again, choking with anguish.

"That's enough, mind trick or not, you better not carry on this sick show." Stark intervened.

The inventor was standing up, one of his shining blasters directed right at the Titan's face. Who started to snicker, which was everything but good news. He grabbed Loki by the collar and lifted him from the ground, to hold him right in front of Iron Man.

"You are right, Stark. Destroy this illusion."

The picture was gut-wrenching. Slowly but surely, Morgan could witness Thor's realization, soon followed by panic. Loki was barely conscious. His eyes were half-closed, and a thin trickle of blood was running from his lips. Stark was not moving.

"I am waiting." Thanos continued "Why don't you fire? In the worst case, you would only kill the one who tried to murder you and to enslave your people, years ago."

"Who's that?" Steve Rogers exclaimed, carefully standing up "Loki?... How did..."

His gaze was alternating between Morgan and Loki, still maintained by the Titan, who seemed to more than enjoy the situation.

"All of who are wondering what is going on, I see." He observed "I can shed some light on the situation. This..." He brandished Loki in front of them "...pathetic imitation of a god faked his death once again. Which, I have to admit, was quite convincing. Seems to be the only thing he manages to be good at."

Morgan clenched her teeth. No, that was not what happened. A lie. Nothing but a lie.

"Then, he stumbled upon this..." He pointed Morgan "...hollow shell, forged by the Soul Stone. Together, they tricked you, they lied to every single one of you, just to have a chance to reach me. And they _failed_."

Morgan suddenly felt the incredulous look of all the people around at her.

"But at least, your brother went for the head." Thanos smirked, turning back to Thor "So, logically, I might as well crush his."

He put his other hand on Loki's skull, and Morgan's breath stopped. She visualized what was about to come. He was going to tear Loki's head apart from his body, only with his brute force, to make sure that the task was done, for good.

"I said... LEAVE HIM!"

She genuinely did not know how she had mustered the strength to stand up and to shout her rage at the Titan. However, she knew that she targeted him with the greatest mental shockwave she had ever triggered.

The pain came, naturally. Her head, all her body hurt, and she could not care less. It did not matter. At the moment, only Loki mattered.

Not expecting such an attack, Thanos had flinched under Morgan's intervention. He had taken a step backward, had dropped Loki, immobile on the ground, and was now looking at her with a very serious and threatening expression.

"Do not expect me to show you mercy." He announced.

"I don't expect anything from you." She hissed.

Her psychic attack had not produced any perceptible sound, nor visible shockwave, yet everyone had seen the Titan reacting to her sudden exclamation. Morgan winced under the pain. Her back still hurt like hell and her brain seemed made of lava. She felt a bit of warm blood running from her nose, sign of a too brutal and intense use of her powers. Added to her still hoarse breath and her now golden eyes, it was probably not giving a very reassuring picture to the people next to her.

"Who _are you_ , exactly?" Rhomann Dey asked, his hand prudently resting on the trigger of his machine-gun.

"Get down!" Rocket suddenly shouted.

The Guardian pushed them both away from the purple deflagration that pulverised the ground on which they were previously standing. Morgan fell on her stomach and gave a dazed look at the racoon, who unlocked the lock screen of his weapon.

"If you wanna fight, you've got to pay attention to whom you're fighting, 'kay?" He angrily added, before firing at Thanos once again.

The Titan protected his head from the burst with his arm, which left a perfect opening for a shield to be thrown at his chin. Thanos gave an even more enraged glance at Rogers, whom Morgan silently thanked for creating a distraction. She got back on her feet, managed not to stumble once again, then ran towards the motionless body a few feet away.

She knew he was not dead. But this was not necessarily good news.

* * *

Loki coughed, once, twice, and lost his breath right after he thought that he had found it again. He still did not know if he could move, or if he would ever be able to.

He was trembling in pain and fear. There was no word strong enough to describe how unconceivable the torment caused by the Power Stone was. He felt like his entire body, flesh, bones and organs, had been torn apart.

Progressively, he realized that he was laying on the ground. The Titan was not torturing him anymore. The noises of the battle were becoming clearer.

They were going to lose. It was absolutely certain. As long as he had the Soul Stone with him, Thanos could not die.

" _We might die. Painfully. Excruciatingly. And we might not save anyone."_

We might die.

We might.

We.

Who was the _we_ , already?

"Loki!"

He weakly opened his eyes. Morgan. She was here, right above him, clenching his arm.

"I want to say an inspiring comment, but nothing crossed my mind." She confessed.

Morgan was shaken by a nervous laughter. Loki thought that it really was a shame not to be able to spend the rest of his life with her. Well, technically, he was going to spend the rest of his life with her, it was just that the latter rest was going to be fiendishly terse.

 _I am sorry, brother. I truly thought I had a chance._

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bright red light. Thanos had used the Reality Stone against the Soldier and Stark. Both had fallen on their knees, and their frantic gestures indicated that they were gasping for air. The Stone must had done something like suppressing every oxygen particle around its wielder. Loki suddenly realized the crucial flaw of quantum energy. Rogers' shield and Stark's blasters could only repel the Stones' energy when it was exclusively directed towards them. Not towards the ground, nor towards the air, not even towards _everyone at the same time_. Yet, Thanos stopped using the Stone before they could suffocate. The two men remained on the ground, panting.

"You want to die in a glorious battle." Thanos observed "But you were chosen. The Gauntlet did not take your life. I have no wish to take it either. Except... for those two."

He had turned his head to Morgan and him.

Not that much of a surprise. Loki often had this effect on people.

The Power Stone started to shine. Morgan was looking at him. He felt less afraid.

"We're dead." She smiled.

But he did not feel any pain. Strange. What he actually felt was a much stronger grip on his arms, then the sensation of his feet leaving the ground.

"Maybe not." Morgan added, shortly after.

Thor.

He had protected them from the Power Stone, landing at a fair distance from Thanos.

"Brother..." He painfully articulated "He... He lied... I did not... Fake my death... I did not..."

He was interrupted by Thor's gentle but firm hand on his shoulder.

"No time for us to talk about this."

He immediately swung his axe and came back to face the Titan.

What?

WHAT?!

"Are you kidding me..." Another voice added, which ironically summed up perfectly his state of mind.

Valkyrie's face appeared in his field of vision, as he tried to get up. Her face was a blend of _I cannot believe it_ , with _after all this is Loki_ , and possibly a little bit of _I have to admit that was stylish_. But Valkyrie was the last of Loki's concerns at the moment.

It was undeniably true that they had not time to talk about this. But Thor's look was...

Thor's look was exactly the one he had when he talked to him on the Asgardian ship. Resigned. Loki could translate it word for word;

"So, you were not dead, and this is what you chose. You chose to hide, and to spy, and to lie. I am still not sure if all of this is real, anyway."

NOTHING HAD CHANGED?!

 _Brother, sometimes I am a fool, but sometimes you are too._

At least, this intense frustration gave Loki enough energy to stand up. His wounds were slowly but surely healing. He was not done. He was definitely not done.

Although Valkyrie's punch in the face was all it took to knock him down again.

"Seriously?!" Morgan protested.

"You're alive!" The warrior exclaimed, both shocked and exasperated.

Loki groaned, rubbing his cheek. Her reaction made sense, however, if every single person around him wanted to take a similar test to reach this conclusion, it was clearly not going to be possible. But Valkyrie had immediately turned to Morgan, who was getting back on her feet.

"Hey, what's that strange thing you did to Thanos, earlier? That was you, right? Can't you do it again, like, now?"

Morgan did not have the time to reply, as Valkyrie suddenly dropped her sword, to hold her head with both of her hands, screaming out of pain. She fell on her knees, trying to refrain her whimpers.

Several other shouts had resounded around them. Loki turned around to see everyone brought back to the ground, wincing with pain, but without any visible wound. Only Thanos was standing up, with the Soul Stone glowing again.

"Immunity to the Stone's power..." The Titan observed "Traitors and cowards like you two do not deserve the world I made..."

Only Morgan and Loki were standing. The others were still conscious but the mental shockwave created by the Titan continued to torment them. Loki seized his dagger.

"You are going to lose." The god of Mischief provoked.

"What makes you so sure of that, small god?" Thanos grinned.

"You cannot even think about losing. Also, this one hits pretty hard."

He had barely finished his sentence that Stark fired all of his blasters, making their opponent disappear under a splendid explosion. The Asgardian did not know how this human managed to overcome the Soul Stone's influence but the fact was, he was really glad to be on his side. Kind of.

"Half of the Universe disappears and this bastard makes it alive..."

And now, Barton. Brilliant.

The archer was right behind him, struggling to get up, along with the Ant and Banner. Each of them displayed a unique stage of bewilderment, from the scientist's _you're alive and that's good, I guess_ , to Lang's _I'm sure I should know this guy_. Barton's one was quite close to _I would feel better if I could shoot an arrow at your foot, just to be sure_.

Maybe defeating Thanos was actually not going to be the hardest part.

"This is what you chose, then. I suppose you will never admit your defeat."

Their enemy had emerged from behind the cloud of smoke. The right side of his face was slightly burnt. But the most worrying part was that the Soul Stone was still shining. What was he up to?

Stark landed right in front of him, putting himself between Thanos and everyone else, and took off his helmet.

"You've already defeated us." He bitterly declared "You won! You've got what you wanted! And what I chose is to make you pay."

The Midgardian's voice was cold. He was a completely different person than the one Loki had seen, years ago. No beyond irritating self-confidence, not even any sarcastic remark. He had nothing to lose, and he was dashing head-on to the unknown, which did not necessarily mean death, rather fear. Stark had no more hope, but no more fear either, and Thanos respected him for that.

"I have paid a price as well, Stark." Thanos solemnly replied "You cannot undo what I have done, and yet you will not give up. The least I can do is to grant you your wish. I will not let you leave..."

The Soul Stone became even brighter.

"...but I will let you live."

As soon as he ended his sentence, rays of blazing orange light sprung up from the Stone, and rushed towards every single person around the Titan. Loki instinctively protected his head with his arm, but quickly realized that neither Morgan nor himself was targeted by these odd... hands?

Surely, they looked like hands. Long, thin hands hatching out of the Stone, aiming for everyone's eyes. Next to him, Valkyrie tried to repel this unsettling glimmer, but the latter seemed to look for something inside her head, as if it had a mind of its own. Immediately after the light had touched the warrior's eyes, she stumbled on the ground, unconscious.

Everything had happened in a handful of seconds. For some others, it took a little longer. When Loki turned around, he noticed that Lang and Barton had already passed out, whereas Banner, eyes shut, was weakly trying to escape the shining orange hand. Further away, Thanos was not moving, focused on the Gauntlet. The Soul Stone was almost blinding.

Everyone was falling. Loki suddenly spotted Thor. He had dropped Storm-breaker and had closed his eyes as firmly as he could. The hand attacking him strangely reminded Loki of a parasite wanting to eat him alive. He rushed towards his brother.

"Thor! Brother, you _stay here_!"

Maybe it could be different. Maybe he could help Thor resisting the Soul Stone's power.

The god of Thunder was the last one left, now. Loki stepped across Rogers' inert body, then stubbornly clasped his older brother's neck. Ironically, he had always hated it when Thor did this gesture to him. Now, he would give everything for this to keep happening.

They were surrounded by orange light. Loki did not feel anything, but Thor was obviously suffering. He was only half-conscious. The god of Mischief looked at Thanos, a few feet away, who was directing the Gauntlet right at them, using the Soul Stone at its full power.

"Go away!" Loki shouted, both at the Titan and the light itself, vainly brandishing his dagger.

"You are pitiful." Thanos sighed "You may not be seen by the Stone, but you cannot counter it."

"SHUT UP!"

It was not Loki's scream, but Morgan's. Kneeled with his brother in his arms, the Asgardian could only see her back, as she was facing Thanos, her arms outstretched in front of her, as a barrier between the gods and the light. And it seemed to work. She was tiny, insignificant, compared to the Mad Titan, and yet the gleaming orange hand was slowly coming back towards the Gauntlet, which surely did not please its wielder.

"You are not the Soul Stone's master." Thanos asserted "You are too frightened, little adder!"

He clenched his fist even tighter, and the ray went back towards Thor, who could only wince in pain. His resistance was fading.

"Loki..." The god of Thunder whispered "Brother... You are here."

Of course, I am here, and so are you, so stay with me, Loki wanted to reply. But before he could pronounce anything, the light went for his brother's eyes.

"Thor!" Loki called "THOR!"

Useless. The god of Thunder was not answering. Only the small movements of his chest indicated that he was not dead. But the consequence was the same; one of them was lost. Again.

Again.

The word was repeating on a loop in Loki's mind. He had dropped Thor's shoulders but could not take his eyes off him. They were filled by tears of rage. He had failed. Failed, failed, failed, again, again, again.

"Loki... I am sorry." Morgan suddenly said.

Loki slowly rose his head to look at her. Her eyes were almost white. Blood was running from her nose. She looked like a ghost. Everyone around had been knocked down. Yet, rays of orange light were still circling around Morgan, as if they hesitated to approach her. She was considering them in a mix of wariness and... curiosity. Even more bizarre, Thanos also seemed surprised, as if he did not expect the Soul Stone to keep on glowing.

"I have to see." Morgan whispered, more to herself than to Thanos or to Loki.

"You have nothing to see." Thanos mocked.

She ignored him. Loki had gotten up and was looking at her with growing apprehension. Suddenly, she extended her left hand towards the Soul Stone's aura, and stretched her right hand towards Loki. He first thought that she wanted him to grab it, but she made an awkward gesture, similar to a wave to say...

"See you!"

Not now. Not like this.

Not _her_.

But the light went for her eyes as well. Loki caught her in his arms before she hit the ground. Only then did he realize that he was trembling.

The Avengers.

Thor, Odinson, the king of Asgard, the god of Thunder.

Morgan, Dumas, the Adder, the Fay, the Morrigan, the Sea-Born, the Goddess of Names.

He was Loki. He was Loki, who had failed again. Failed to avenge the Universe, failed to help Thor, failed to protect Morgan. God of Failures. That was who he was.

He was on his knees, in front of his brother's body, with Morgan in his arms. He was too desperate to shed any tear.

No Stone was glowing on the Gauntlet. Thanos was standing in front of him, with a look of utter disgust on his face.

"It is over. Run, small god, while I still allow it. Shut yourself away in a remote corner of this universe. Live the miserable life you always cling to."

Words would not come. He could not speak. He had lost. He had lost _everything_.

And he was _nothing_.

* * *

"What is your name, my son?"

He started with surprise. This voice...

Where was he?

Gone was Thanos, gone was Thor, gone was Morgan, gone were the Avengers and the Scarecrow Planet. He knew this place...

"Indeed, I have rarely seen so many shining stars at the same time." She tranquilly continued.

Loki stood up. He was in the Australian desert, at the very same location where he had emerged from Whatever-its-name. And...

"Mother?"

"You have grown, but you still need to answer a question when you are asked one." Frigga chuckled.

"This is... not important." He painfully articulated.

His throat hurt. Badly.

"Is it?" She questioned "Would it mean that _you_ are not important?"

"What if it is the case?" He bitterly replied "After all, what good have I ever done?"

Frigga came closer to him. She was the same as the last time he had seen her, before she...

"All I do is failing and destroying." He muttered "Even you..."

The moment still haunted him. Rage and humiliation burning in his chest, a few careless words haughtily said to the intruder, then the silence, and then some other words, of completely different nature, revealing what had actually happened...

"Your life is complicated." Frigga smiled, without an ounce of reproach "Full of the most terrible and beautiful deeds. You have failed and destroyed, the same way you have won and saved. Despite of that, and because of that, I am proud of you. You should be proud too."

"Don't go. Please, do not leave me." He begged, as she slowly began to turn around.

"I never left you, my son. I never will. By the way... She has a strange way of saying goodbye, hasn't she?"

* * *

Wind on his face. Thor in front of him. Morgan in his arms. Thanos walking away.

A strange way of saying goodbye?

" _See you!"_

An awkward gesture. Right hand moving forward, two fingers slightly bent.

" _We can use it as a code. To prove that we are still ourselves."_

He remembered. Sign language. Snake.

Morgan would come back. She had a plan.

He rose up. Alright, let's do that. Time to cheat. Time to trick. Time to fight.

Time to be Loki, the god of Mischief.

* * *

 **Hi everyone! Happy new year!**

 **I tell you right away, I can't keep the weekly update anymore, I wrote a lot last week but still. To be fair, it's getting (and going to get) faster and faster, so hard to manage. By the way, you might begin to think that Thanos becomes a little out of character, but that's the point. He is getting really, really pissed off.**

 **To answer SeaOfSoy, yep, someone can do everything and explain with "it's magic" or "it's quantic". For example, as you told me a while ago, if Loki turns into animals, and thus takes their ability (flying as a bird for example), when he is Taipan-Loki... He should be deaf. But no. 'cause "it's magic". Also, since he can't even imagine how it is to be deaf, I don't think it would even be possible. Likewise, I have absolutely no idea about where quantum computers could lead us, but it's definitely not crafting a shield and blasters. So, let me write my crazy shit ^^ And thank you so much for all your compliments! I hope I keep up well so far.**

 **Again, have a great year, and thank you for reading my story! (and if you haven't found a resolution yet, you can leave a review for the first time. Just suggesting.)**


	37. Someone's help

**Warning: You remember Morgan's broken hand? Let's say it's cute, now. Although not very lengthy, the second part contains torture scenes. And the idea is not mine, by the way, in the comics, Thanos really did that with the Reality Stone.**

* * *

" _I need to see."_

Morgan opened her eyes. She felt... blank. Devoid of any emotion. She remembered how peculiar she felt, before. Enraged, and yet, captivated. An uncanny combination of hate and love.

Wait. Before what, exactly?

She was lying on her back. She got up quickly, realizing that she did not feel any pain at all. Her clothes were intact. Neither her head nor her back was hurting. Good.

Morgan took a long look around. Wind was ruffling her hair, but she was not cold at all. She was alone, in the middle of a pine forest.

"I know this place." She said out-loud.

She was standing on a rock. Her feet started to follow a path she had taken many times, when she was a child, along with her grand-parents. Morgan smiled. Steady sounds were coming to her ear. The air was carrying a familiar smell. The sky was bright blue, without any cloud.

She rapidly found herself out of the forest. If it could be called a forest. The island was not that big. Morgan sat down on the verge of the cliff, and watched the waves hitting the rocks under her feet for a moment. The north of Brittany was even more beautiful during winter. Very few people were at sea, only experimented sailors.

"This is indeed a heavenly landscape." She acknowledged "Is it what I would call my home?"

No one answered. She was alone. Morgan sighed. Alright, she had rested enough.

Loki was still out there.

"I went here without you." She whispered "I want to promise that I will come back, but I can't be sure of anything."

She remembered the fight against the Soul Stone. She had lost. The Gauntlet was too powerful. For an instant, Morgan had felt how strong the connexion between the six Infinity Stones was. She was no match against it.

But what she could do was to take a look. After all, the Soul Stone had invited her. Kind of, as she always put it when she could not describe something. The fact was, she could have escaped the Stone. But its energy had attracted her. It had something to show her.

Morgan was always curious, which could either save or condemn her.

She was inside the Soul Stone, then. Where should she start?

"I must bring the Avengers back." She asserted.

Nothing followed. The wind was still blowing, the sea was still roaring. From where she was, Morgan could almost taste its salty water. Very seducing place, indeed.

Maybe it was a little too vague.

"Okay, okay!" She continued "So, I guess I need names. Stark, I need to find Stark!"

Nothing either. Out of frustration, she kicked a rock. The pebble flew right in the sea.

"Hey! I have to get out in order to find Tony Stark!" She shouted at the sky "How can I be clearer than that?!"

The sensation of being nothing more than a complete idiot was steadily growing.

Why Stark? Well, apparently, he was the one Thanos considered as the most dangerous opponent. After all, she had to start somewhere.

"I will not be trapped here!" Morgan assured "I have escaped much worse!"

She was supposed to be trapped in what she pictured as an ideal place. Which meant that everyone else had his or her own vision of paradise.

"I don't know if I want to see Stark's one..."

So, what would be the most illogical thing to do, now?

"When I think about it, can I die here?" She wondered "What would happen to my body?"

There was pretty much nothing she could do about it now, so she might as well focus on what she could actually influence.

"On your marks..." She murmured, to boost herself "Get set... Go!"

She turned around and took a leap into the unknown. Literally.

* * *

When Morgan opened her eyes again, she was surrounded by a dim orange light. There was not a unique source of brightness. The latter was diffused evenly throughout what could be called sky.

She breathed out loudly. For a second, right after her jump from the cliff, she had thought that it was not going to have any effect, and that the impact was actually going to kill her soul.

Morgan noticed that a thin layer of water was covering the ground, reflecting the sky colour. She was in an orange box, then.

"Stark!" She called.

He was right in front of her, alone in the middle of this weird void. He was not wearing his armour, and was standing with his back turned to Morgan. She marched towards him, incredibly relieved, but he did not even bother to stare at her when she spoke his name a second time.

"Huh. It's you. What are you doing here?"

"I am... Well, first off, I am sorry..." Morgan uneasily replied "We... Tried to help... But it did not exactly go as planned..."

Stark shrugged. He really did not seem to pay attention to her words.

" _We_? Yeah, right, there's Loki too. Didn't know he could turn into a snake. Freak."

Morgan was stupefied. Was that it? Was that the only effect Loki's presence had on Stark?

"I came to bring you back." She continued "We can defeat Thanos. If we all-"

"No." Stark cut.

"What?"

"You heard me. No, we can't defeat Thanos. And no, I won't go back."

The following seconds were marked by complete silence.

"Wait, is Iron Man _giving up_?" Morgan exclaimed "This is really the last thing I expected!"

"Oh, because you have expectations, now?!" Stark shouted "Listen, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, by the way I don't even know your freaking name, I don't see why I should do as you say! You were just... Here. Everyone, myself included, listened to you without asking any question. You're... I don't want you around."

Morgan did not know what to say. What happened? Where was the actual Tony Stark?

But a part of him was right. She had manipulated every person around her. No one actually knew her. The Soul Stone had apparently broken the effect of her powers.

"It's not over! I mean, you can't stay here for ever! Don't you see that you're trapped, and alone?!" She added, sounding more and more desperate.

Stark looked at her, then emitted a brief laugh.

"I'm not alone. There's Pepper. There's Peter. Everyone's here. You're the only one who's alone."

His words had more impact than Morgan firstly thought. But she understood. She could not see Stark's "world". Now, she could see where her powers came from. Everyone who was trapped in the Soul Stone was happy. No one wanted to get out. No matter what they could gain from it, they would refuse to leave the Soul World.

"Loki is still out there."

Morgan realized that she had spoken out-loud. Her voice was marked by sadness.

"Mmh. For what I care."

Stark's reply was not even cold. He truly could not bring himself to care about it. Then, he turned his back to Morgan.

"Wait, please! Stark, I need your help!" She desperately shouted.

"Don't need yours." He shrugged, before disappearing.

"No, STARK! Wh-where are you?!" She panicked "I need... I need... Lang? Scott Lang?!"

Maybe it was going to be different with him. After all, his soul was odd. Perhaps it had resisted the Stone's influence.

"What? What do you want?"

As soon as she heard Lang's detached tone, Morgan understood that her attempt was doomed to failure. But she had to try. He was standing at the exact place where Stark had appeared, not wearing his suit either, just standard urban clothing.

"Okay, listen..." She began "This will probably sound crazy-"

"Uhm, I think I know what you're gonna say. You came with this guy who's actually a snake, or this snake who's actually a guy, I don't know, but apparently, he's the New York lunatic who brought an army of aliens. What's his name already?"

"Loki, but-"

"Right, Loki. And... I mean, I don't even know who you are, what your weird powers are and basically what the heck you're doing here! You... know things about the Infinity Stones and... whatever!"

"Listen!" Morgan shouted "We must fight against Thanos, otherwise we will remain imprisoned here!"

"Don't think so."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't think we must fight. Like, this guy's omnipotent. Those quantum weapons, okay, they rock, but you saw how easy it was for him to trap us. And I mean, even if we kill him, who knows if we can bring back all those he killed?"

Morgan was lost. Neither Lang nor Stark felt bad about staying in the Soul World. To them, it was not a prison.

"I must go, now. My daughter's waiting for me." Lang said, before vanishing as well.

What to do? Morgan anxiously paced under the orange light, alone in this vast desert. Wasn't there anyone who wished to get out of this place?

 _Idiot. Of course, there is one._

"Thor!" She called "Loki is alive! You have to help him."

"I know, Lady Adder."

She was now facing the god of Thunder. Even without his axe, he was impressive. He seemed sad, one would even say melancholic.

"It is not too late." Morgan carried on "Your soul has been trapped here, but your body is still out there. We can find a way out."

"There is no need for that."

"Pardon? But... Your brother-"

"I know. I know but I cannot go."

The Asgardian turned around, looking at what Morgan could not see.

"My people need me. Asgard, my friends, my mother and father."

"The Soul Stone makes you see what you want to see!" Morgan warned "They are not truly here!"

"What makes you so sure of that? How am I supposed to believe you? Haven't you deceived me the whole time?" Thor accused.

"You are right, and I am not asking you to trust me! But Loki needs you, and you need him!"

"Does he? Do I, honestly?" The god of Thunder muttered "Is he _really_ worth it?"

Morgan watched with horror as Thor's emotions towards his brother were slowly fading away. The Soul Stone. Over and over again. This world was a paradise for every soul, but for her, the only being trapped but not influenced by the Stone, it was a hell.

"He is." She choked.

"I don't know if he is." Thor spoke softly "I don't know if I can go. I cannot go..."

He vanished. Morgan fell on her knees.

It was useless. Completely, utterly useless. No one wanted to leave. She had willingly trapped herself, hoping that she could help. But she had just run away from danger. As always.

Always frightened, always running, little devil...

Nothing.

Had.

Changed.

"Alright, you won!" Morgan screamed out of despair at the sky "You won! Don't you have everything you wanted?! Don't you have everyone's soul?! Aren't you happy now?"

Tears rolled down her cheeks. So, in the end, she would only have traded a white trap against an orange one.

"I need help..." She cried, still hunched "I need someone's help..."

"Oh, I don't know someone, but I know one Som."

Blow to the chest.

He was standing right in front of her, with a reassuring smile. She was still choking with shock and sadness, but managed to move her hands.

 _My name is Morgan._

He answered, smiling at her poor mastering of Sign Language.

 _My name is Som._

"You're here." She choked "You're h-here."

"Som is in da house!" He laughed "Come with me. There is someone you need to see."

Morgan clumsily stood up. She did not know where to start. Som was here. Nothing else mattered. Som was here. She advanced her arm to touch his, but she went through his body. She gasped but he did not seem surprised.

"Oh yeah, makes sense. You are just a soul, right?"

"I... guess..." She stammered "How do you... How do you know about this place? How are you..."

"How am I not freaking out, and how do I know about how you got there? Don't worry, I think you'll have many answers very soon. And by many, I mean a shit ton of it."

"You're... What do you remember, after you disappeared?"

"Not any pain, if that's what you insinuate. I just found myself here, a second later. I mean, I was... Whatever, and I tried to look for a way out, but I guess that since I was brought here by all six Infinity Stones instead of just one, I have pretty much zero chance of success. Oh, there she is. Hiya!"

The little girl Som had just greeted was standing under a porch. She did not look older than ten. Her skin was green. She genuinely smiled at Som, then timidly at Morgan.

"This is Gamora." He introduced "I think you two have a lot to talk about."

* * *

Admitting defeat. Touchy subject, isn't it? One would ask if defeat can ever be admitted.

Of course, it can. The aftermath of a war is as important as the war itself. How to treat the vanquished? Not mercifully. But carefully. An enemy should not stay an enemy.

Loki had admitted defeat pretty rapidly, in the aftermath of the battle of New-York. He had been blinded by his own rage, which led him to make mistake after mistake. Also, he had faced strong opponents. The Avengers wanted him out of Earth, fast. Once they won, they did not spend their time gloating. They could have, but they did not.

The point is, spending a very long time humiliating the loser of a war is never a good idea. Because no one likes to stay a loser.

Needless to say, in front of Thanos, Loki had not admitted defeat.

The Asgardian breathed out slowly. So, he did not know what Morgan was going to do inside the Soul Stone, but he knew that he had to buy her time. He trusted her to be as unpredictable as possible. He trusted her overall, anyway. However, Thanos was the Stone's wielder. He could go to the Soul World at any moment.

But first, he would have to face a very, very annoying god of Mischief.

As he was about to take a step, Loki felt a curved piece of metal under his foot. Morgan's knucle-duster. He grabbed it. Just in case.

He did not harbour illusions. Winning over Thanos was completely out of question. What he had to do was to prevent him from using the Soul Stone. The problem was, he was not invisible anymore.

Or was he?

Apparently, Morgan's power had rendered him immune to the Soul Stone's influence. The only thing Thanos could see him with was his eyes. Which were just waiting to be fooled.

On his right, the lake created by the Titan was welcoming him with open arms. Loki extended his hands towards it and focused on the surface of the water. A few seconds later, the later glowed with a dim green light, and started to turn into opaque vapor. Shortly after, the entire battlefield was covered with fog. The next thing to do was to see his opponent from where the latter would never think about looking.

Loki started to run, then, when he had enough momentum, turned into a giant eagle, which flew towards the sky at incredible speed. From this height, he could see the Titan, now surrounded by smoke and wincing with fury.

Thanos closed his fist, and the Time Stone transformed the vapor into water again. However, this gesture, as small as it was, had given Loki the handful of seconds he needed. He swooped down on his opponent, ready to strike. Half-a-second before the impact, he took back his Asgardian form, holding firmly his dagger, aiming for the eyes.

And suddenly, everything stopped. Yes, quite literally, everything stopped. His body was still in the air, his blade barely a centimetre away from his target, but he could not move. He simply could not make the slightest gesture.

Thanos was looking right at him. And Loki knew he did not need any Infinity Stone to read fear in his eyes.

"Turns out you may have a little bit of bravery in you." The Titan admitted "But you always attack like a coward."

The Space Stone, which was maintaining him completely immobile, ceased to glow. Loki did not have the time to do anything before being hit by the most monumental punch he had ever been hit by.

 _By Hell. And he did not even use any Stone at all._

The Asgardian violently hit the ground three times before finally stopping. His head was spinning, and blood was filling his mouth. He spat it, staining the grass under his palms. Even with his natural resistance, he doubted to be able to last against three or four similar blows. The wounds caused by the Power Stone had just finished to heal, and the pain was still so close...

Useless to focus on this, now.

"All things considered, I am maybe going to kill you. And take my time doing so." The Titan declared, while tranquilly approaching.

He closed his fist again, and the Space Stone tore the grass from the ground, making it flying above them. It was almost fascinating. Loki barely had the time to get up that the Reality Stone turned it into sharpened small blades, which flew right at him.

As skilled as he was with his dagger, he could not counter them all, and he had no time to think about a spell against this. However, another weapon joined his.

"You again!" Thanos roared.

Along with Loki, Nebula was breaking and deflecting the projectiles. One or two hit their target; the Asgardian took one in his right leg, but not too deep in his flesh, while the cyborg was hit by another in her left forearm, but the latter being made of iron, it did not seem to bother her more than a bee sting.

"Got a plan?" Nebula asked Loki, after the rain of blades had stopped.

"I have a soft spot for improvisation." The god of Mischief smirked.

"It was a misjudgement." Thanos threatened, stepping forward "Erasing your presence from the Soul Stone's perception does not protect you the slightest. Instead, you-"

His speech was cut by his own exclamation of surprise, after Nebula and Loki simultaneously attacked him behind the knees. Although he did not fall, it was enough to make him trip, then be cut again by Nebula's sword on the chest, and take one of Loki's knives in the right elbow. The Titan realized the deception when replicas of Nebula and Loki still standing before his eyes disappeared in a flash of green.

"Your tricks lead to nothing, Asgardian!" He shouted, before sending a ray from the Power Stone right at his two adversaries.

Who faded as well.

"A second set of illusions is always useful." Loki ironically explained, as Nebula had just thrown a series of little explosive devices right at the Titan's face.

"Best day of my life." She grinned.

Certainly, none of Thanos' wounds were going to last. But the point was to disorientate him, and they were doing a pretty good job so far. Relentless, Nebula and Loki did not grant their opponent one second of respite in order to make the best use of his Gauntlet. They had fewer and more basic weapons, but were perfectly used to their manipulation.

Both of them were fast and agile, and without talking much, managed to coordinate their moves. When Thanos made use of the Space Stone again, a rock twice their size flew right at them. The Asgardian and the cyborg briefly looked at each other, before simultaneously kicking the boulder back where it came from. Then, Loki created a dozen of projections, all attacking the Titan from various locations. As they were about to strike again, the Asgardian suddenly felt that his body was becoming incredibly heavy. He stumbled on the ground, alongside Nebula.

He could not move a muscle. Even breathing was excruciating. He was still holding tight to his dagger, but his arms, as well as his legs and chest, were maintained on the ground by what he felt was like hundreds of his brother's hammer. An immense pressure was applied to every square centimetre of his body. Around him, the earth started to crackle. On his left, he saw that Nebula had been immobilized the same way. The glowing Reality Stone had somehow increased gravity over their bodies.

"I find myself in a difficult situation, especially towards you." Thanos addressed Nebula "You see, I promised to your sister that I would not kill you, and I intend to keep my word. But I know you will not stop your vain attempts at killing me."

"Summed... up... well." The cyborg managed to articulate.

Thanos sighed. He seemed disappointed to have lost so much time.

 _Good. Buy time. Buy as much time as possible._

Then, a cruel smile deformed the Titan's face. He directed the Reality Stone at her. Soon after, Loki's eyes widened with dread.

This was still Nebula. At least, this still looked like her. But, by Hell, let her not be conscious.

What he was presently seeing on his left was nothing more than a shape of charred meat. He could still discern the woman's body, her cybernetic enhancements. But her blue skin was entirely burnt, even her eyes were melted.

Loki could smell calcinated flesh. Disgust clenched his stomach. His horror increased even more when he realized that Nebula was still alive, on the brink of death, but still alive. Small spasms were irregularly shaking her body, showing the incommensurable pain she was too weak to express. She would have been far better off dead. Would had he been able to move, he would have crawled towards her to slit her throat.

"You will live as long as I wish you to do so, denying both life and death." The Titan mercilessly described.

"Y-you're... s-sick..." Loki spat.

What he first thought was a guttural groan was actually laughter. Thanos was laughing. He turned back towards him, still immobilized on the ground.

"Loki the Liesmith! Isn't it one of your titles? You, proud of twisting words to find the meaning that only suits your needs, want to persuade yourself to be an honourable warrior? No, small god, you do not deserve honour, not even respect."

He crouched in front of him, increasing the pressure on his body. Loki wanted to scream, but his lungs would not let him do so. He felt blood in his throat, but could not even choke.

"I vowed not to kill anyone else, even those who foolishly stood against me. I can grant their bodies eternal life, while their soul rest in the heaven which they create for themselves." The Titan continued.

Loki would not know what to say, had he been able to speak. Trying to persuade Thanos was doomed to failure. Such conviction, reinforced by power over the entire Universe, was unmovable.

"However, I made no such vow to you. I killed you. Your very survival is unnatural. But I am going to rectify this."

The Reality Stone stopped shimmering. But Loki did not have the time to move, not even to think. He just briefly saw a purple glow and knew what was about to happen.

Pain came. No, it was not pain. It was Hell. Real Hell. He was burning alive, his limbs were crushed and re-built, and crushed again, he did not know, he could not know, there was not anything else in his entire existence than this terrible, unbearable pain.

He was screaming, he knew that. He could not help it. Would have he been able to say something, he would have begged for this torture to stop. Without the slightest flash of shame. He would say _anything_ for the pain to stop.

And it stopped.

It had stopped. It had stopped. Nothing else mattered. He still could not move. He was curled on himself, panting, shaken by violent shivers. Above him, he distinguished the Titan's shape.

"It will _not_ be over soon." Thanos asserted.

The Power Stone shone again. And it started again. Suffering, screams, inner supplications for this to end.

" _The Power Stone... I hesitate on the translation. As it is written, I would call it Power Stone, but Energy Stone might be more accurate."_

What was that?

Pain had stopped again. Loki was still on the ground, lost between nightmares of agony. But among them was this intruding memory, of the conversation he had had with Morgan, while studying the Book of Cosmic Entities.

Indeed, the Energy Stone, if you insist. So, what?

Hm.

Energy.

Didn't he have something with him that could absorb energy?

Out of the corner of his eye, Loki saw the Power Stone shining again. He clenched the knuckle-duster around his fist. Then, when the wave of purple energy came, he put his hand right in front of him, and watched in pure amazement as it was channelled by Vibranium.

Thanos was too astonished to react. It gave Loki a handful of precious seconds. The god of Mischief did not lose them. He urged his body to obey him for a moment, and it responded. He hit the Titan with an enormous shockwave. Thanos was literally propelled a dozen of metres away.

Loki was still surrounded by phantom pain. He felt Morgan's weapon breaking around his phalanxes, as it had not been made to withstand such an amount of energy. Two of its four rings fell on the ground. But he did not care. He was standing, and Thanos was down.

 _Thank you, Som._


	38. Remove your mask

"Loki Laufeyson!"

He clenched his fists. This name. They had chosen this abject name.

Very well, then. Let them hear his name. Let them shout their hate. Let them fear him.

"You stand here guilty of High Treason, Murder and Murder Attempts, on the Realms of Jotunheim, Midgard and Asgard, including against the heir to the throne, Thor Odinson!"

The heir to the throne. Thor the Mighty. Thor the Silent, rather. Usually so talkative, he had not opened his mouth since the beginning of the event. And what was that look on his face? Shame? Oh, but he had no reason to be, the only cause of his shame was going to disappear very quickly.

"For your crimes, I, Odin, King of Asgard, sentence you to death by decapitation!"

Ah, Odin. The Wise. The Benevolent. The _Liar_.

Lying to his people. Lying to his own family.

But now, everything was getting back into order, wasn't it? Odin was going to remove the stain on his family, and everyone would soon forget about the monster he had brought inside Asgard, the Frost Giant he had dissimulated.

The crowd was huge, he had to acknowledge that. He knew personally a great number of persons gathered today. He could read despise on their face. Hate, for some. Anxiety, for others. Good. At least, his last moments would be in front of the greatest audience he had ever seen.

The scaffold was not really high. It was outside of the palace. The sky was bright blue. He had not felt the warmth of the sun nor the wind against his face for a long time. He had lost track of time since the trial.

The executioner pulled on the chain tied to his neck to command him to step forward. He had gotten used to the shackles around his wrists and ankles, but never to the metal collar. The humiliation to be chained like a beast was as intense as the first day he had felt the contact of iron around his neck.

Anyway, it was going to be over soon.

He was forced to kneel. He could see the giant axe, on his right. From where he was, he could perfectly glare at the man he had once called father, who was looking at him with supreme contempt, as well as the one he had called brother, who could not bring himself to look at all. Coward.

His mother was not here. Well, even her had lied to him. Was she going to miss him? Probably not. Who would miss someone, no, not someone, _something_ like him?

His shackles were tied to the scaffold. He let an ironical laughter slip. Still wary, really? Where would he go, now?

"Does the convicted have any last words?" Odin questioned.

Last words. They could not be taken away from him. They had to mark everyone's mind. They had to...

Mind.

Why was his brain focusing on this word?

Mind.

His breath stopped. This was...

There was something wrong. There was something very, very wrong.

"Has the Silvertongue lost his wits?" A voice in the audience shouted.

Several bursts of laughter followed. He grinned his teeth. They would...

No. They were not important. He should stop listening.

What happened? Why did he suddenly feel that everything around him was horribly... fake?

"So be it!" Odin declared "Proceed with the execution!"

The executioner roughly grabbed his head, to lean it on the chopping block. He seized the axe. The metal shone before his eyes.

It was not real. He did not know why, but he knew that all of this, even the sensation of cuffs around his limbs, was not real.

"Stop." He ordered.

"It is a little late to beg for mercy, traitor." The executioner snickered.

Right. Useless to say "it is not real". He had to play with the rules.

As the executioner was about to swing his weapon, he was suddenly hit by a colossal punch, which propelled him down the scaffold.

He smiled. It had worked. He was Loki. Odinson.

"Also, Taipan." A voice he suddenly remembered to know reminded him.

She was massaging the hand around which was still shining the knuckle-duster. Her name was Morgan. Dumas, like the author of _The_ _Count of Monte-Cristo_.

"He cannot hear you, right?" She asked, as she was unshackling him "He can create thoughts, but he cannot find your thoughts."

Loki stood up. He dropped his cuffs on the wooden floor. The crowd was petrified.

"I suppose. After all, you are just in my mind."

Illusion-Morgan smiled. She was beautiful. He wanted to kiss her, but thought that waiting for the real Morgan would actually be much better. Therefore, he turned to Odin.

"Remove your mask." Loki smirked.

The illusion shattered.

* * *

Coming back was brutal. Extremely brutal. First of all, the pain was back. Loki was still standing up, but at the very moment he realized it, his legs stopped supporting him.

There was no time for this. Nevertheless, the Asgardian had the impression that his body itself was telling him "I can't take it anymore, I need ten seconds, just ten seconds of complete immobility".

Alright, ten seconds, no more.

Likewise, his brain more than welcomed this handful of seconds. The vague images of the illusion created by the Mind Stone were still dancing before his eyes. Loki shook his head to make them go away. None of this -his captivity, followed by his execution- was real at all. What would have happened, if he had not realized it quickly enough? Would he have died? Could a broken mind break a body as well?

Most probably.

Loki could smell fresh earth. He clung to the sensations he knew were not fake, mentally asking Morgan not to be too long. Suddenly, a groan of both pain and fury sent a sharp warning in his mind.

"You..." Thanos articulated with difficulty "Miserable runt!"

 _Well, you just got your ass kicked by a runt._

Thanos was still on his knees. He had visibly been affected by Loki's counterattacks. The Mad Titan's face was deformed by pure rage, but also by damages made by the Power Stone; blood was trickling down his forehead. He neglectingly spat some on the ground, but took time to stand up. His right hand was holding his head. It seemed that he had used the Mind Stone right after having been punched, meaning that the whole illusion had hardly lasted more than two seconds. Above all, Thanos was stupefied. He would probably never have imagined that Loki could not only resist him, but literally make sure he bit dust, and on top of that, with his own weapons.

Enough, Loki told himself. He had rested enough. He had to get up before Thanos did. But could he get up? Could he?

 _Come on. If you do not get up, you never will. And neither will Thor._

This time, he was the one protecting Thor. This time, he was the one who was fighting for his brother. He could not give up! He had to get up!

 _Brother, give me your strength._

A rumble made him startle. Loki shivered. Thanos was standing. Meaning he had to stand. Now.

"I will... bury you... alive!" The Titan shouted.

Loki did not even have the time to process the sentence that he felt a gaping pit under his feet. The terrible sensation of falling took hold of his body and mind, yet he caught a glimpse of the shining Space Stone and realized Thanos' intention.

He was falling in a deep crater, and if the impact did not kill him, the amount of rocks about to crush him would probably give a better result.

What could he do? What would Thor do, if he was in his place?

Easy. Thor would have gotten up. The fact was, Loki was not Thor. Fighting the way his brother did had no chance of success.

And Morgan, what would she do?

Probably say something like "You are the god of Crazy Ideas. Find one." But he was a little short of inspiration.

 _Morgan, give me an idea._

A few seconds later, the Asgardian found himself surrounded by rocks.

Now, it was dark. Loki had been badly shaken, but he was alive. In his head was still echoing Morgan's inquiry, when they were both in the Outback cabin;

" _Have you ever tried to shapeshift into a turtle?"_

Yes, he had. Only once. How old was he? Could not remember. He had not attempted it again, considering it useless and ridiculous.

Moron, moron, moron.

Loki took back his Asgardian form, in order to push the boulders above him. Morgan _was_ strong, he acknowledged. Her Midgardian nature had been an obstacle to this realization. She did not look strong, but she was. Stubborn, daring, clever and strong. Just a different kind of strength, that was all.

He emerged from the heap of rocks, bruised, exhausted, but alive. How long would he manage to shapeshift? He could not know precisely. But he had to carry on. Loki raised his head towards the sky. The crater was really deep. No time to lose.

Ravens were very rapid and agile. Contrary to his eagle form, Loki did not need momentum to take off. He flied as fast as he could, then dashed towards Thanos before taking back his Asgardian appearance, to throw a knife right at his head. The incredulous Titan did not have the time to avoid it, and the blade drew a long and deep cut across his face, between his eyes.

"How many times will I have to kill you?!" Thanos vituperated.

"I just can't seem to die." Loki smirked.

* * *

Although the girl seemed very at ease with Som, she was at first a little intimidated by Morgan. The latter sat down in front of Gamora, doing her best to hide her urge to ask question after question.

"Are you the friend he always talks about?" The child suddenly inquired, pointing out Som, who could not refrain a smile.

"I'm afraid so. Tell me, what did he say?" Morgan giggled.

"That you catch snakes with your bare hands, that you invented a card game you can only play with him and no one else, and that you are so sensitive to spices, once you ran away just after hearing the name _Jalfrezi Curry_." Gamora beamed.

"Oh, for so little."

"He also said that you are very strong, and you were going to come and save everyone trapped here, and then break all of Thanos' teeth with your own Gauntlet."

A feeble smile appeared on Morgan's face.

"Without your help, I cannot save anyone." She told Gamora "But I am confused. I thought you were... older."

"You two are in the same situation." Som informed "She is a pure soul."

Gamora slowly nodded. She suddenly seemed on the verge of crying.

"He sacrificed me." She whimpered "He just... He just wanted the part of me he preferred."

"What do you mean? Do you know where your body is?" Morgan asked.

"On a planet called Vormir. In the snow. He dropped me on the stone."

Morgan bit her lips. A sacrifice. Of course.

"He was very sad when he won." Gamora added.

"Who? Thanos?"

"Mmh-hm. I think he misses me."

Morgan recalled the projection of his daughter which Thanos had summoned in his last moments of consciousness, when about to succumb to the poison.

"Do you miss him?" She replied.

"Yes. He is very bad but he is my father. I miss him a lot."

Som discreetly sighed. Revolt and understanding were battling inside Morgan's chest. The child she was facing was not Gamora's soul, but a part of it. There was a time, in the woman's life, where she had indeed been attached to her father. Thanos had only thought about this specific part of her. Strange love. Not of the entire Gamora, but of a piece of Gamora.

"I also miss Peter."

"Peter? Which Peter?" Morgan repeated, remembering Stark evoking a Peter as well.

"Peter Quill. Before arriving here, I was with him." Gamora explained "We were a team. A family"

"Oh! The Guardians of the Galaxy!" Morgan exclaimed "I've met Rocket!"

Gamora seemed even sadder. She hugged her knees against her chest.

"I don't know who is here and who is not here. I can't see anyone." She sobbed.

"Have you... seen the Soul Stone?" Morgan questioned.

"No. But it's looking for you."

"That is good, because so am I. Where can I find it?"

"Over there." Gamora simply answered.

She was now pointing out the porch standing in the middle of the orange void, a few feet away, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Morgan immediately thought about a sort of Chinese pagoda. There was nothing different to see on the other side, but things were not always what they seemed. Which was especially true in this weird world.

"How do you know what the Soul Stone wants?" Morgan carefully inquired "How come it feels so... familiar to you?"

"It ate me."

It took a few seconds for Morgan to process the information. But after all, the Soul Stone had never hidden it. Survival at its finest. Feeding on souls, instead of meat.

Gamora was fidgeting with a piece of her clothing. She visibly had something to add.

"You are going to talk to the Stone?"

"I am going to give the Stone hell." Morgan smirked.

"Be careful. You are not going to have any protection. It will try to eat you as well. To make you lose yourself."

"I know. The thing is, Whatever-its-name already tried."

Surprise and sympathy were visible in the green-skinned girl's gaze. Morgan stood up.

"Morgan?" Som intervened "Honestly, I am worried sick now... Anyway, I know it's completely useless to say that but... Whatever the Soul Stone is or does... I'm on your side. Always."

 _Don't cry. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. Oh, you know what, fuck it._

"It's not useless, it's definitely not..." She managed to stammer "It's just... I don't know what I would do, or where I would be without you."

"No one to play cards nor sing karaoke with. That sucks."

 _This guy. What are the chances to meet someone like him again?_

"Som." Morgan remembered, as she was about to walk under the pagoda "Also... Loki is out there. He will need your help too."

"You think so? Isn't he a god?"

"Of Crazy Ideas only. You, on the other hand, are quite something." She winked.

* * *

 **More mischief to make. More answers to come.**

 **Okay so, since this chapter was mostly based on mind/soul control, I thought I could give some precisions about the hardest Infinity Stones to manage:**

 **\- The Mind Stones enables its owner to expand his mental capabilities, to control and create thoughts. Loki and Morgan are not invulnerable to its powers, but I figured that since thoughts are linked to emotions, as long as their souls are "hidden", so are their thoughts. When Thanos creates the illusion of Loki's execution, he is able to picture Odin, Thor, Asgard and so on, because he knows a lot about him, thanks to mental manipulation. But more precision about that later on.**

 **\- In the Soul World, everyone person's thoughts are still his or her own, but the Stone manipulates their feelings. Gamora has all her adulthood memories but she loves Thanos more than hates him.**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	39. Normal wisdom

The surroundings had not changed a bit. Same orange sky and watery ground. However, neither Gamora nor Som was here.

A movie quote. She should pick a movie quote. It would probably help countering her nervousness.

"You and I have unfinished business."

"Do we?" A familiar voice immediately answered.

Morgan's breath stopped and she briskly turned around.

"Hello, Sis."

Vivian looked exactly like the one Morgan had seen in her last nightmare. She had grown up. Her blue eyes were shining, surrounded by long, airy blond hair, which were perfectly in accordance to her light white dress.

"Hello, my sister."

"My sister... Has Vivian really existed? Have I ever had a sister, even for a handful of seconds?"

Morgan realized that her hands were trembling. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the Soul Stone could not help refraining a little smirk.

She could die. Instantly. Maybe it would be painful. Maybe it would be the sweetest thing she could ever conceive. Everything was possible. So, she might as well calm down a little. Consequently, Morgan took a long breath and relaxed her shoulders. There. No turning back.

"People have named you Infinity Stone. It is said that you are a part of the very first creations of the Universe, that you are an essential component of existence. How would you define yourself?"

Vivian emitted a brief laugh. She walked closer to Morgan, who realized that even the image of her twin sister -fraternal twin but still- was taller than her. It was becoming somehow annoying.

"I am life itself. Life in its purest form. I am logic and survival... Power that will not be enslaved by emotion or biology. I am by far the strongest of the six."

Morgan and Vivian were only a meter away from each other. The atmosphere was peculiar. The Stone was... repulsing her, and yet attracting her at the same time.

"This is so intricating, that such a short-lived creature like you has been able to wield some of my power. You would have been a very good host for me."

"Perhaps. Do you know who your current bearer is?"

For the first time since they met, Morgan saw the Stone losing her smile.

"My bearer... An intricating creature as well. Much stronger than you."

"Not as if it weren't easy."

"He bended me. He bended us. He is no bearer. He is a master."

This time, Morgan could not help giggling.

"Ha! He tricked you! Thanos tricked you! You thought you could control him, didn't you? I have to admit, there is a part of me that likes him!"

Vivian started to walk around her, patiently, not displaying any sign of anger, not even frustration.

"Who are you?"

Morgan's throat suddenly became dry. Here it was, the million-dollar question.

"Who are you?" The Stone repeated "What is your name? Tell me."

"Such a familiar order."

"The cold light of truth. The thirst for knowledge. I know you feel it too."

"I am Morgan."

"Morgan..." The Stone slowly articulated, as if the sound of her name itself was unnatural.

"It is funny, when I think about it... Names. The meaning of them. His name, Thanos, do you know what it means?"

"Languages, meanings... More than I can count." Vivian shrugged "Words and names appear and disappear. They do not make sense."

"This is why you need a host body. You simply cannot understand some basic principles of the souls you crave."

"Indeed. The more complex a soul is, the more I want it. I want to make the Universe mine."

"Long work ahead."

"Time does not matter. Sooner or later, life _will_ come back as one. He who wields the Gauntlet that traps us may be long-lived, but he is not eternal. Nothing is eternal except the six."

"Hm. Creation leading to destruction. Cycle of life and death, and so on, and so forth. Thanos has lived much longer than me. He must have somehow inspired _Thanatos_."

Inquiring look from the Stone. She pursued.

"A word from an ancient civilization, the Greeks. The personification of Death itself."

"What makes it funny to you?"

"My name. It is French. _Mort_. Death."

"I see. This is good. You cannot understand life without death. What do you think you are, now? Are you alive or are you dead?"

"Don't know. Right now, I am talking to you, it is all that matters. And you, what are you? My mother, my sister? I have changed, since our last encounter. I made mistakes, I learnt, and I grew up, you noticed that. This is why you have changed too, I guess. You do not see me as a bearer anymore, but as a kind of... partner. Am I right?"

"Do not get too carried away. Do you really think that you are the first creature in the Universe to challenge me? I also learn. You and I are in the same position. Trapped. Challenging my bearer is not an easy task."

"I am aware of that. Let's make a deal. I can free you, and you can free me as well. You can bring me knowledge, and I can bring you knowledge too. Have you heard of _Jilabi_? It's an Indian pastry made of..."

"That wisdom of yours is very peculiar."

"Thank you. Normal wisdom is boring."

"You cannot lie to me. You cannot run away. Not this time."

"I know. My name does not weaken me anymore. It protects me. It always did. Now, Sis, let's become one."

Morgan had extended her hand towards her sister. The heart she imagined to have was pounding like crazy in her chest. Vivian did not say anything. She came forward, took her hand, and hugged her.

Darkness followed.

* * *

Yep, darkness. No orange nor white void.

 _Are you kidding me? What's next, all colours of the rainbow? A Gay Pride emptiness?_

She was too annoyed to be afraid. Plunged in the dark, she could not see her own body, nor hear her own breath. Was it the purest state of one's soul? After all, she needed eyes to see and lungs to breathe.

 _But this is clearly NOT going to last._

There was indeed something different in her. What was it, exactly? It was like... like something she would suddenly remember but had always known. Like exclaiming "How could I forget where I put those damn keys, they were _here_ all along!"

What did she need to remember, already?

 _Who am I?_

Instantly, images came. Sounds followed. Smells too. All sensations. It was a succession of times and places, moving so fast that she could not focus on one of them.

 _Okay, so this is me. I think. This is me... travelling?_

Travelling was an adequate word. Travelling across the Universe. Was there a restaurant at the end?

 _Let's see. So, there are planets. There are various sorts of lifeform. Some are very basic, some are very advanced. I need them. I need to survive. But they are not pure souls like me. They have a physical body. I need a physical body._

Well, technically, she already had one. She was a... She was like a stone, but there was no stone like her. You know what, let's stick with stone, otherwise it is never going to end. Words really did not make sense.

 _Even as a stone, I can travel. I can appear and disappear in any place, at any time, in any reality. Which the five others cannot do._

The five others... Odd thing to explain as well. Once, they were one single being. And then, it was shattered. In six stones, if you insist. The five others were barely conscious of it, but she would never forget.

 _I can exist where and when I want, but I cannot take all the souls I want in this form. I need another's body. A host. A body for me, a soul for him._

How could she do that? The weaker a body was, the easier to invade. But it was useless to invade a dying body. One about to be born was much better.

 _I can do that on every planet I visit. I can create the perfect body to collect all the souls I want._

Hard job, though. Many creatures were too fragile. They were killed on the spot. Some, on the contrary, integrated the part of her soul so well that they strengthened their body too much. Like on this planet, where a being with black skin and orange eyes had managed to see all living creatures. But to see them literally. Damn it. Would have been a great host.

 _I keep on learning. The key is to find a balance between a too weak and too strong host. He should be powerful enough to wield my power, but not enough to resist me._

All beings reacted differently to her power. Confusing but also amazing. Life was so diverse. There was this time, where she had given her powers to the very first members of a specie, the ones with the antennas, if she remembered correctly, and they had actually evolved with it. They could feel any other being's emotion. The thing was, they also acted as a hive, living both on their own and together.

 _But I cannot inhabit a collective soul. It is both one and many. It is too confusing. It reminds me of the shattering. I need to start with one, individual being._

And how to know if a being was ready to welcome her? Pretty simple: once its very existence would be challenged, it would come where she was from. Her birthplace, in a way. The vague remnants of the five other stones had apparently left some elements there, so it was not purely nothing. But she was the only one who always knew about it. She was its soul, after all.

 _What do I call it, already? Hey, wait a second. Who is the "I", here? I feel like there are two "me" speaking. Who am I, really?_

She was... Okay, it was becoming weird. She was both the stone who came to this planet and the host it created. Oh, this planet, this one was a real mess. She had already been there several times! Why so? Because all its hosts had been the worst to control, here was why! They changed so rapidly, it was painful!

 _I remember appearing at the exact same place where my previous host had died. I tried to possess her body, was a woman as well I think, but it killed her. So tedious..._

But another being came and this being was bearing new lifeforms. Two of them at the same time. Perfect. One would be very strong right away. If it could already strengthen itself by taking the other's soul as soon as it could breathe, maybe she would finally be able to take care of this planet.

 _It's not "its" soul. It's my soul. I am... I am not a stone. I am here and over there. The woman I see, bearing children, is my mother._

Technically speaking, she was the physical mother, but...

 _But no! I am not you! You are not me! I have a life without you! I don't need you!_

Was that true, though? What makes a "you", hmm?

 _My own conscience. I decide for myself. There are things I like, things I dislike. There are things I want to do and things I hate to do. All of them make me._

Ha. Cute. Everything previously evoked are results of complex biochemical processes in a creature's body. A "you" does not have any purpose. "You" exist. That is all.

 _So, what? If I say that I have a purpose, I have one. Ideas make things real. My name has no purpose but I have a name nonetheless. My name makes me real! I AM MORGAN! AND I AM REAL!_

And suddenly, she felt pain.

* * *

Morgan found herself on her knees, hands on the orange ground. She breathed out quickly. Very well. The Soul Stone wanted a war. She would give the Soul Stone a war.

Vivian looked as short of breath as she was, but most of all, she was astonished.

"You tried to 'eat' me, didn't you?" Morgan groaned, getting on her feet, a threatening smile on her lips.

"Why didn't it work?!" Vivian screamed out of frustration "You are so fragile! So insignificant, compared to me! And yet, you keep on resisting, clinging to nonsense! You-"

For once, Morgan had let her fist do the talking. So, apparently, two souls could fight. Interesting. Vivian had fallen on the ground. When she got up again, she had a deadly look on her face.

"This is how it ends, I guess?" Morgan announced "No deal for you, just a zero-sum game? No wonder why Thanos captured you so easily."

The blow came so fast, right on her left eyebrow arch, she did not have the time to dodge it. She whimpered out of pain but managed not to stumble.

"If you think it will be painful, it will be painful." Vivian sniggered.

"Thanks for the info."

Morgan put her knuckle-duster on, and hit again. And again. She maintained Vivian on the ground to prevent her from standing up, without slowing down the punches. But her blows were ineffective. No wound was visible on the Soul Stone's face. Worse, Vivian kept on smiling.

"You cannot hurt me! I am the master here! YOU ARE NOTHING!"

The next moment, Morgan and laying on the ground, her weapon out of reach, and Vivian above her. Strangling her.

"Look at you!" The Soul Stone sneered, while squeezing her throat "Such a waste of potential! You could be me, you could know everything, be everything, and what do you choose?!"

Choking. Can't breathe. Can't think. Dying? Dying now?

"Afraid of death! Always afraid!" Vivian accused "You have no purpose! Nothing waits for you! NOTHING!"

" _You know, I begin to think that we might actually survive all of this."_

She really, really needed a crazy idea, right now.

Morgan suddenly took a deep inspiration, as Vivian's hands abruptly released her neck. She coughed, as the image of her sister was swaying, wiping the chocolate that had fallen right on her face.

"Wh-what is... What the..."

"Never tasted an éclair?" Morgan laughed "Your life must be so boring. Try to kill me again and I will bury you under all existing French pastries. There are worst ways to die."

"You are pathetic."

"Correction: to you, I am pathetic." Morgan grinned.

" _Whatever the Soul Stone is or does... I'm on your side. Always."_

She was not nothing.

"Last chance." She warned Vivian "Stop trying to control me, it's already hard enough to break free from Thanos. All the time, you have been working against him, right? It was you who made me see him snapping his fingers, you who brought me to the Scarecrow planet, and then brought me here, hoping for a more docile host. Not a chance. But I can free you."

Sarcastic laughter from the Soul Stone.

"Aren't you playing, what do they say, the hero? Shouldn't you rather imprison me, preventing me from satisfying my hunger for souls?"

"Frankly, I do not think myself able to do that."

"Ha! Your goals are so low!" Vivian mocked.

"You want to keep pulling me down? Because it is nice to watch you trying."

"Tch! Fine. Let's get this over... Morgan."

The Soul Stone was looking daggers at her. Morgan took the hand she was reluctantly extending.

Bright orange light, forcing her to close her eyes. She was back in front of the pagoda. Vivian was nowhere to be seen.

"Morgan!" Som called.

He rushed towards her, and seemed to recall only at the last second that she was just a projection, whom he could not hug.

"That was... lively." She described.

"Do not get off so lightly." He smirked "You will tell me. But later. Very shiny eyes, by the way."

"Makes sense. Right now, I am going to blow everything up. You come?"

"Sure, why not?"

* * *

 **Not gonna lie: this chapter was both huge fun and huge pain. I did my best to manage the Soul Stone as the "narrator", I sincerely hope it is not too confusing, but don't hesitate to tell me if it is the case. Since the Stone doesn't attach any importance to names, you may have guessed who was the "being with black skin and orange eyes", as well as "the specie with the antennas" (yes I have my theories-in-theories).**

 **So, any thoughts? Predictions?**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	40. Find the morons

"What is you plan? Or, rather, do you have a plan?" Som inquired.

Morgan did not answer immediately. She felt different. She _was_ different, no doubt about it. But she was still herself. That was the most important.

"I need a connexion."

She had spoken out-loud, not even realizing what the sentence really meant. This was not good news. She frowned. Was she still in full control of her decisions? How could she be sure that the Soul Stone was not slowly but surely gaining the upper hand?

"Hey, Morgan." Som added "Focus. What kind of connexion?"

"I... I don't know exactly... I... Oh, this is actually going to be way more complicated than I thought!"

Morgan sighed out of discouragement. She wanted to rest. But she knew that she still had an immense battle to fight, and she did not know precisely where to start.

"Did you... _eat_ the Soul Stone?" Som asked.

"I fought it. I think I won... I have to use it to get out of here. But it is constantly trying to use me... I can't... I can't trust anything about myself, even my own instinct!" She stammered.

Panic was steadily growing. Morgan clenched her fist. As soon as she had managed to overcome the Stone's attack, she had thought that everything would be magically solved. How childish, how ignorant, how weak...

Her inner frustration was brutally interrupted by Som clicking his fingers in front of her eyes.

"Listen. Listen to me, okay? If you can't trust yourself, trust me. As far as I understand, you are the Stone, and the Stone is you."

Som's concentrated and professional tone reassured her. Morgan was hanging onto his every word.

"Ask yourself precisely what you have to do. You know the answers."

She nodded. He was the point of reference she needed in order not to get crushed by the infinite amount of power that she could feel but could not explain.

"So, tell me. What do we need to connect?"

"Souls and body."

The answers had come naturally. Som gave her an approving look. Morgan relaxed a little.

"Alright. So, it is about bringing your soul back into your body. Not about getting half of the Universe out of here, since their bodies are also trapped." The Indian summed up "What type of connection can it be? It is an object? Is it a living being?"

Morgan noticed that Som's eyes were shining with amusement.

"I think I know what you are going to say." She smiled.

"I mean, it seems pretty obvious to me. Loki is the only one who has not been trapped here. And his soul is connected to yours, so..."

"There is something else." Morgan interrupted.

It could have been someone else than Loki. It was something they had in common. It was the very first connection they had established. It was...

"The Stone-wielders!" She realized.

"Elaborate." Som sighed.

"The Stones, they... They _speak_ to each other. I am not linked to Loki because I shared my powers with him, I mean, I am, but that's not the point here. Both of us are Stone-wielders, if I can say. I am linked to the Soul Stone. He is linked to the Space Stone."

The Soul Stone was part of her. If it knew what to do, then so did Morgan.

"I think I get it. More or less." Som admitted, rubbing his chin "The problem is, how can you tell him to bring you back?"

"I can't tell him. You can!" She triumphally announced.

Som doubtfully raised his eyebrows.

"Me? And how so, prithee?"

Morgan smiled and brought her hands to his head. She stopped her gesture right before approaching his temples, waiting for his approval.

"Uh... If you are sure about that... Go ahead?" He hesitantly replied.

She acquiesced and her eyes became even brighter. The second after, Som let out an exclamation of surprise.

"Wow! Okay, well... I begin to understand why you love your "kind of" so much. I can't explain what happened but... it surely happened."

He looked at his hands, probably suspecting to see their colour changing. But nothing had changed in his physical appearance. He was still as tall, his skin was still as brown, his eyes were still the same pale blue that Morgan had always known. She noticed that his arms were trembling a little.

"You can't tell me that everything is going to be okay, right?" He nervously chuckled.

"I can, but I would lie. Thanos is..."

Morgan lowered her eyes. The vision of Som being reduced to ashes in her arms would haunt her for a very, very long time.

"I know." He calmly said "I know I can die. Rather, suffer. But I prefer suffering to an eternity of emptiness."

"Still. I really am the worst friend."

"Indeed. That's why you are the best."

Som sat on the pagoda stairs and crossed his legs. Morgan was amazed by how naturally he had accepted the presence of her powers.

"Alright, La Fay. Find the morons, I mean, the Avengers, while I give the Mage a hand."

"By the way, he is also Taipan. And I am Adder."

"Perfect." Som grinned "I have venom too."

"Are you... going to kill my father?"

Both of them started with surprise. Morgan had been so focused on dealing with the Soul Stone that she had completely forgotten about Gamora. She was standing behind them, with her arms crossed. Her voice was marked by sadness.

"It is not revenge." Som started to explain "But we want to live."

Gamora did not add anything. She had closed her eyes. A single tear rolled on her cheek.

"I will find your body." Morgan assured "I will get you out."

"No. I am staying."

Taken aback by this answer, Morgan did not know what to say. What should she do? Unlike everyone else trapped in the Soul World, Gamora was not influenced by the Stone's power.

"Please." The child added "Don't bring me back."

"Gamora." Som gently intervened "Don't you want to see Peter again? You told me so much about him. And the other Guardians? They miss you too."

The green-skinned girl slowly nodded. However, it was clear that she was not convinced by his arguments.

"I want my father."

None of them replied. Morgan's throat was hurting. She would have loved to be able to say such a thing.

Gamora did not add anything. She probably knew that whatever Morgan or Som decided, she had no power to stop them. Thus, she sat down on the opposite extremity of the stairs, and let her gaze wander across the orange horizon.

"Hey, Morgan?" Som called.

"Yes?"

"See you under the real sun."

He closed his eyes. So did she.

* * *

Exhausted. He was exhausted.

Each second was an inner fight between the two parts of his mind, one saying that it was useless, that he could not take it anymore, that he could just stop and wait for death, and the other endlessly repeating that if he was still standing, he could still stand, and if he could not stand, he could shapeshift as a bird and fly.

But the fact was, Loki had no mean to know if any of this was true. Could he let go? Could he carry on? He could not answer. He had no time to think about it.

Thanos was infuriated. Watching the sun rise on a grateful Universe was not his priority anymore. No, his one and only objective was to kill Loki. Incredibly slowly and painfully, if possible. And yet, the trickster escaped from one trap to another, sometimes finding the strength to display a provocative smile, which enraged the Titan even more, making his attacks coarser, easier to counter.

The god of Mischief's cunning was an effective counterbalance to the Reality Stone. Each time Thanos made use of it, Loki promptly found a way out. His mind was entirely focused on the fight. To find a new idea, a new trick, always moving, to remain uncatchable.

But he was _so_ exhausted.

His body was covered with small but numerous wounds. He had no time nor the energy to heal. Shapeshifting was becoming increasingly difficult. And yet, he continued. He had never fought in such a way before. Although, to be fair, he had never faced such an enemy before. This battle was not one of pure strength. The winner would be the most ingenuous, the one making the best and fastest use of his powers to annihilate the opponent.

They were at a fair distance from the Avengers, now. Loki had done his best to draw his opponent away from their bodies, as well as from Nebula, still tortured by the Reality Stone. Her fate was probably just a foretaste of what Thanos had in mind for him.

Flowers. Flowers?

The Asgardian realized that he had arrived in the middle of a flower field. Yellow flowers. Sunflowers. Their shape was different from the ones that grew on Asgard. They were taller as well, almost hiding him entirely. Further away, he spotted a scarecrow dressed in armour. That gave him an idea. For a change.

But suddenly, he found himself completely unable to move. His blood turned to ice in his veins. Being immobilized meant being dead. And Thanos had appeared right in front of him.

"An illusion of myself? Staging my death?" He sneered "How ridiculous..."

Loki was confused. How did Thanos guessed what he had in mind?

The Infinity Gauntlet was not shining with the blue light of the Space Stone, not even the Mind Stone, as the god of Mischief would have expected. It was shimmering with green. Thanos had frozen time around him.

No, he did not only freeze time. He had gone _back_. Meaning that he had seen Loki's move, and come back right before it occurred. At least, this meant that it had been effective. Or so he hoped.

Loki noticed that a circle of bright green light, covered with abstract geometrical figures, had appeared under his feet. He was still standing, his dagger in his hand, about to launch a surprise attack that would never be one.

"Everything has an end." Thanos asserted "Everything dies, sooner or later."

As soon as he ended his sentence, Loki's blade was surrounded by green arabesques as well. It immediately started to rust, then turned to dust, which slowly fell on the ground. Loki stared at his now empty hand. He had used all the throwing knives he had been able to conjure, and his most solid dagger was lost for ever. This had more impact on him than he would have thought.

"You and your brother call yourselves gods, but you will die as surely as everything else around you."

The Titan's voice was marked by extremely controlled fury. He turned his wrist a little, and the time trap under Loki's feet disappeared. However, as soon as he fell on the ground, many other circles appeared all around his body. They were surrounding his arms, his head and neck, his chest, his legs, like ethereal bracelets.

He had to get out. But his body was far too exhausted. Was it the end, then? Would this fight be in vain?

All of a sudden, the circles created by the Time Stone slowly started to turn around him. What Loki felt was not intense suffering, like the effect of the Power Stone, but a much more insidious sensation. As if something, he could not say what exactly, was drained out of his body.

"Your lifetime does not mean anything." Thanos added "Whether you have five thousand years left... or five hundred."

The circles were spinning more rapidly. Loki could not escape. He was whimpering out of pain, mechanically clutching the earth and the sunflowers roots. What was happening? What was...

"Or only... fifty." The Titan grinned.

Loki's breath stopped, as he understood what the Titan was doing. He was literally draining his lifespan. The same way the Soul Stone fed on souls, or the Mind Stone corrupted minds, the Time Stone could take living beings' time.

"I will take away everything that makes you." Thanos hissed "Your longevity. Your powers. Your sanity. And you will die without anything to hope for. Empty."

The Time Stone stopped shining. Unable to stand up, Loki shivered. He knew it was far from over. But was it true? Had his time been snatched away?

It could not be possible. It could not...

Out of nowhere, he started to laugh.

It was more of a hoarse coughing than a laughter, but the idea was there. He could not help it.

He was alone to face the Titan. He had no more weapon. His body had been tortured. His mind had been attacked. His lifespan had been stolen.

"Lamentable..." Thanos scorned.

"Indeed..." Loki snickered "Go ahead. Try to unmake me. Can't you see that no matter what you attempt, you fail?"

Thanos sighed out of disdain. He closed his fist and the Reality Stone created chains surging from the ground, hindering his legs and arms.

"This is not what you claimed, not that long ago. Remember, small god, that you came to me, begging for power, hungry for revenge and destruction."

The Reality Stone shone once again, shaping a humanoid form. Himself, he realized. But not the Loki he was now. It was the one he had been once he had received the Sceptre. The one that was eaten alive by a poisonous idea. This gaze, clouded with madness and confusion... Difficult to reckon that it had been his.

"And I gave you power. A weapon. An army. A purpose. But even with all those assets in hand, you remained _weak_!"

Another figure appeared before his eyes, in a flash of red light. Smaller, with dark hair and golden eyes.

"I see why you two got along. Two frightened wimps." Thanos spat "But deep down, you know that she despises you. The same way you despise her."

Loki's imitation suddenly grabbed Morgan's wrist and violently threw her on the ground, with a grin on his face.

"Pathetic human... Kneel before me." His clone commanded.

"You are attached to her the same way you are attached to a pet. Constantly in need to be surrounded by inferior beings." Thanos continued.

The Asgardian clenched his teeth at the sight of himself kicking Morgan in the stomach to prevent her from standing up, then maintaining her head on the ground with his foot. This grotesque show made him feel sick. He looked like a sadist. But Thanos was the one with a twisted mind, not him.

And suddenly, Loki realized something so reassuring that it almost made him want to burst out laughing again, despite the desperate situation he was into.

Thanos was playing his game. He was taking time. He had been so enraged by the trickster, and was presently so satisfied to have him at his feet, that he had completely forgotten the danger Morgan could represent inside the Soul Stone.

To sum it up, the god of Mischief was winning.

Oh, how good it felt. He had to keep it that way. To fool. Fortunately, he was quite good at it.

"I have changed." He boldly claimed.

It seemed like an appropriate sentence, the one that was supposed to end the conversation (if it could be called one) but would only start it.

Indeed, Thanos reacted. But not in the way the Asgardian expected.

"Ah, yes. Change." Loki's clone answered "One of the countless illusions I cast. I pretend to myself that I deserve to be a king. I pretend to my brother that I am worthy of his esteem. And I pretend to this little snake that I can be trusted."

The Loki created by the Reality Stone ended its sentence by brandishing Morgan in front of him, holding her by her hair. Blood was running all over her face. Loki -the real Loki- bit his lips until he could feel the iron taste of his own blood in his mouth. This was harder to look at than he thought. But he knew about illusions. He could resist that.

"And I am not better." Morgan's clone added.

At impressive speed, she took a snake out of her pocket, a taipan, like the one he had turned into, and directed its fangs right at the fake Loki's neck. The latter shouted of pain, dropping her in the process.

"I am a fake. I fake names, too scared of my own. I fake identities, to persuade myself that I have one. I fake moralities, so that others can never realize how meaningless I am."

The fake Morgan had a threatening smile on her lips. Both imitations displayed only anger, cruelty, an almost palpable avidity for carnage. But that was what they were. Imitations. Nothing more.

"Stop your distorted play!" Loki protested, vainly trying to escape his bindings to make his reaction more convincing "You don't know anything-"

"On the contrary, small god, I know you more than you do." Thanos grinned, appearing next to him "For the simple and good reason that you are too afraid of yourself to look in a mirror. So, if you insist, look! Look at what you are!"

The Titan briskly grabbed Loki's head to force him to stare at the two clones. His exact duplicate was maintaining one of his hands on his neck, while the other was firmly holding his dagger. Which he plunged in Morgan's chest, without hesitation. And twisted.

The scream he heard, the blood he saw, all of that seemed way too real. And it did not even end there. Because, in a last furious move, the fake Morgan's eyes, directed at her tormentor, became even brighter. Immediately, Loki's double screamed, with blood running from his nose, his mouth and his _eyes_.

The two clones faded, turning into dust, exactly like the victims of the Snap. Loki's chains disappeared as well, but he did not manage to rise. He had no more energy. He felt fragile. Breakable.

"This is your true nature." Thanos whispered "You betray and ruin. And this is how you end. Betrayed and ruined."

Loki was exhausted. His body, his mind, everything hurt. The Titan was all-powerful, and would torment him again, and again, and again, until he would finally break, because he knew that his resistance would not last forever. He could not take it anymore. He wanted to fight, but with what? What did he have left?

He needed something. Anything. Anything that could help. Because at the moment, he had no more ideas.

"So, _that_ 's Thanos."

Wait...

What...?

HOW...?

"Who _are you_?" The Titan hissed, revealing his stupefaction.

Loki raised his head a little, barely believing his eyes. It could not be an illusion, Thanos had no mean to know who he was...

And yet, Som. Standing between Thanos and him. He seemed so real... How could he be there, how?

"It's Naja for you." The Midgardian snickered, although it was not very hard to spot fear in his voice.

But Loki did not care. He would not be betrayed. He would not be ruined.

"Another petty reptile for me to stamp on." Thanos groaned.

Som did not reply. He turned around to kneel in front of Loki, still on the ground. The Asgardian could not help shame from creeping down his back, knowing how miserable he must look. However, Som's gaze did not bear any trace of pity. Fright, definitely, which was understandable considering their opponent, but also relief. Even more. Pride? Was it really _pride_?

"Thank you, Loki. You saved us all."

What? What did he mean by that?

"You did not save anyone, small god." Thanos declared "You will never do!"

The Power Stone started to shine.

"Don't even think about it!" Som exclaimed, standing up in front of the Titan "You will have to go through me first, giant purple potato-"

His sentence was cut short by the sound of the deflagration created by the Power Stone.

"Oh, actually you can go through me." The Midgardian nervously chuckled, looking at his intact torso, through which the ray of light had gone without creating any damage.

Loki sighed out of relief. Som was only a projection. Which meant...

The god of Mischief felt a spike of adrenaline in his body, which propelled him on his feet. Morgan. This was her doing.

"Purple potato?" He could help himself smiling "Really?"

"Hey, I'm afraid, okay? And when I'm afraid, I use crappy nicknames! Now, Mage, bring the Fay back! Take the-"

"Enough of your pointless screams!" Thanos roared, as the Soul Stone started to shine.

Som did not have the time to add anything. His eyes just widened in surprise, before he disappeared. Loki's breath stopped, as he vainly extended his arm towards the place where he was standing, a few seconds ago. Everything had happened too fast. Where was Som? Was he dead? What...

Loki clenched his fist. Enough. He felt nothing else in him than pure anger. Not any pain. Not any hope. Not any fear. He wanted to punch the Titan with his bare fists, endlessly, until his hideous face was reduced to an unidentifiable mash.

The Asgardian turned around. Thanos had raised his arm. So did Loki. The picture seemed so disproportionate, a Gauntlet on which rested Infinite Power, against a hand which had no power at all. For an instant, the god of Mischief saw again the moment where the Soul Stone's golden hand had plunged into Morgan's eyes.

 _See you!_

The fists collided. Loki did not feel the intense pain in his arm he had braced himself for. Instead, he saw an orange light surging like an explosion from the Gauntlet, blinding both him and the Titan.

And then, he passed out.

* * *

 **I love to write epic scenes.**

 **So, just a few clarifications about the last chapter:**

 **\- "You and I have unfinished business" is from Kill Bill Vol 1, which is one of my favourite movies so I obviously had to quote it somewhere**

 **\- About Morgan's knuckle-duster. I should have explained it a little more but Loki has the real, tangible weapon. What Morgan uses is a product of her own imagination (remember she has no body in the Soul World). And yeah, she could have created an AK47, but first, she is in a rush, so she clings to more familiar things, second, well, it wouldn't have damaged the Soul Stone either**

 **\- Last but not least, if you like all the lore around the Infinity Stones, involving Loki as well, I strongly advise you to check out the story _Beyond Magic, Mischief and Madness_ , by CurtismcQueen (it's in the _Thor_ fandom).**


	41. Let's just avenge

" _See you under the real sun."_

Morgan looked around her. The pagoda was gone. Neither Som nor Gamora was here.

It was far from over.

"The Stone-wielders." She spoke out-loud "Who are they?"

She did not know exactly why nor how such a connection could exist between an Infinity Stone and a living being, but the fact was, it existed.

"You are a part of me, and I am a part of you." She whispered to the Soul Stone "Show me your world, my world."

It only lasted a second. But during this single second, Morgan found herself overwhelmed by the hundreds, thousands, millions, _billions_ of consciences inhabiting the Soul World. She felt them. She was them. Morgan shared their joys, their fears, their loves, their angers. She felt their life, and she was their life. It was magnificent. It was terrifying. It was...

"Infinity..." She muttered, astonished by what she had just experienced.

Such an amount of power was unconceivable. There was no word to describe it. And that was the potential of only _one_ Stone.

The five others. They were a part of her as well. Long ago, they had been one. They were still one. Morgan could feel their pain, how they were trying to fight against this powerful barrier, the Gauntlet, which bended their will to be together.

One Stone could not destroy another. It would be like destroying itself. Very few things could destroy them, overall. Among them were...

The sound of muffled cries suddenly came to her ears.

When Morgan turned around, she immediately realized how she had been able to defeat the Soul Stone. The woman she faced, to an extent, she knew her and did not know her. She knew that she was heartbroken, that she was devastated by guilt, that she had been both traumatized and passionately in love in her life. She also knew that she was... Incredibly powerful. And yet, she did not know her name, she did not know her thoughts, she did not know _why_ nor _how_ she felt and was as such.

She was hunched, weeping, not paying any attention to Morgan. She was clutching her legs against her chest, with her head resting on her knees. Morgan could not see her face, only the long, wavy brown hair covering her shaking shoulders. Strange. Who would cry in the Soul World? Was it not supposed to plunge every single soul in a state of absolute bliss?

"Why are you so sad?" Morgan carefully asked, sitting in front of her, although at a respectable distance.

The woman did not answer immediately. Well, she tried to, but her sobs were so violent that they blocked her voice for a moment. When she raised her head a little, Morgan could only read and feel ultimate hopelessness. She was pretty, though. Probably younger than her, and yet, taller (obviously...). The colour of her long coat perfectly matched her hair.

"I-I... I know..." She stammered "I know... that... e-everything is... f-fake!"

She tried to dry her tears in a frantic gesture. Morgan slowly came a little closer to her.

"W-who... who are you?"

"My name is Morgan."

Suddenly, and despite the context which was everything but enjoyable, Morgan could not help laughing a little.

"W-what's so f-funny?" The woman angrily asked.

"I am sorry, it's just... I have not directly told my name to someone I just met for ages. It feels quite new to me."

"Then, g-good f-for you! Leave, now!"

Morgan bit her lip. She would have to make serious efforts in terms of tactfulness.

"Pardon me. I meant no offense. This world is so strange... You can feel it too, apparently."

"Yes. I can see them, and talk to them... But I know... I know that it's a lie! I know that they won't come back. They'll never come back! Pietro's _dead_! Vision's _dead_! Everyone's dead! Everyone..."

She burst into tears again. Morgan understood. That explained her extraordinary amount of power. Of a very different nature than hers, and yet, similar.

"Wanda Maximov?" She asked.

Her interlocutor was stunned.

"How do you know my name?"

"I... Oh, where to begin?" Morgan hesitantly replied, ruffling her hair "I know about you because you are famous on Earth. I have been told that not only have you faced Thanos, but you also managed to destroy the Mind Stone. You are... You wield the Mind Stone's powers, don't you?

"Yes..." Wanda slowly replied "How do you know about the Stones? How can I even see you here?"

"I am like you." Morgan smiled "Well, not really. Not at all, in fact. But I wield the power of the Soul Stone. I went here to fight it, and kind of won. Let's say that I concluded an alliance."

"Why? What's going on... outside? I just remember... fading away. Like falling asleep."

"Because Thanos did what he wanted to do. He exterminated half of the Universe with a snap of his fingers. This half now lives in a world created by the Soul Stone, which acts on their emotions. But your mind is different. It cannot be completely trapped."

"Is that any better?" Wanda bitterly sniffed "I can't go out, and I'm aware of that. It's my fault. I should have..."

"Don't do that." Morgan gently cut "Don't let the guilt destroy you. I know how much it hurts, don't hurt yourself further. What can you be guilty about, anyway? Having fought? Having hoped? Having loved?"

Wanda stayed immobile for a moment, staring at her without uttering a word.

"You're... You can't read thoughts like me, but... You can feel what I feel."

"Pretty much." Morgan chuckled "And even if you could read my thoughts, you wouldn't believe them."

"What happened?"

"What happened, and is still happening now, is that we are fighting Thanos."

" _We_? Are you with-"

"The Avengers, indeed. Although they are probably going to be a little angry at me when they will see me again. If I manage to get everyone out, could you please tell them that I only tried to help, and not to mess around?"

For the first time since they met, Morgan spotted a feeble smile on Wanda's face.

"You're strange. Can you really get everyone out?"

"Not at the moment. I cannot control the five other Infinity Stones. But I have a plan. A very crazy one."

"Fine for me... After all, I've nothing else to lose." Wanda shrugged.

She disappeared before Morgan had the time to add anything, leaving her alone again in the middle of the orange universe. Could she blame her? The sight of Vision, the android she was manifestly attached to, came back to her mind. Grey, immobile, his skull half crushed. Was there any hope for him as well? It was far too early to say. Wanda Maximov had endured a lot of hardships. Morgan could relate. If Loki...

She shivered. There was no time to lose.

Well, technically, she was not taking any time at all. The Soul World was peculiar in terms of time. Now that she could control the Soul Stone (more or less), she could decide if time passed, or not. It reminded her of Whatever-its-name, in a way.

Apropos of time.

Morgan sighed briefly. At last, she was meeting him in person. She had heard a lot about him, thanks to Som, but had never looked forward to seeing him face-to-face.

"Who are... How can you control this place?"

Right in the jugular. Steven Strange was astute, the contrary would have surprised her. He was looking at her with an expression of both disbelief and wariness. His funny-looking red cape caught Morgan's attention. It seemed to flicker on its own, on the man's shoulders. Evidently, he was wearing the same rings than Som's, however there were of no use here.

"First, hello." She mumbled "And let's get things straight: I am on your side. Truly. I swear it on my snakes' lives."

"On your... You better explain yourself right away!" The sorcerer ordered.

Morgan grinned her teeth. Obviously, she would have to be much more cooperative. But she could not help it. First, because she did not have a high opinion of the Masters of the Mystic Arts in general. Second, because the man standing in front of her was used to give orders, to be obeyed, and on top of that, to make it clear for everyone around him. The very type of person she liked to avoid. But now was not the time to hold him up to ridicule. Maybe later.

"Fine." She said, raising her palms in front of her to show that she meant no harm "You guessed right, I can influence this place. My life has been connected to the Soul Stone, which is now a part of me. I know that you have wielded a Stone as well, enabling you to master time. Am I correct so far?"

"Yes but... _How_ can you _be there_? How did I not... see you?" Strange whispered.

Ha. Short but intense moment of satisfaction.

"Only your own eyes can see me." She smirked "Your mystical sleights of hand have no effect."

Sweet narcissism. She had missed it.

"The Time Stone is not what you would call a mystical sleight of hand. And I am supposed to believe that you are on my side?" He coldly replied.

Mmh. He had a point.

"I guess if I was not on your side, I would not be trying to tell you how to defeat Thanos."

"Indeed, you didn't tell me."

Morgan wanted to punch something.

"I am getting there. What I am able to do is to bring back the Avengers' souls into their bodies. Then, we might-"

"Wait, you are fighting Thanos?!"

"Apparently."

"With the six Infinity Stones?"

"Unfortunately."

Strange let out an ironical exclamation.

"That's what you call defeating?! Don't you understand that he can access this place at any moment, even though you exert some degree of control on it?!"

Morgan fidgeted with her hands. Now was the tricky part. If it weren't already tricky enough.

"Not really..." She hesitantly started "Because Loki is beating the crap out of him right now."

She expected some kind of reaction. She was not disappointed.

"Ha! Alright, I get it. You're some kind of twisted hallucination, telling nonsense after nonsense. Go on, I am curious about what comes next."

Morgan pinched her eyebrow arch. Of course, it was not going to be easy.

"Very well. If you think that I am a dream, I will wake you up."

It was ridiculously simple. She snapped her fingers (the truth was, she did not even need to do so, but she found the gesture rather stylish) and Strange looked around him, dumbfounded.

"How did... What is this?"

"This is what the Soul World looks like." Morgan explained "I could not see what you saw, beforehand, but this place is the true colour of the Soul Stone, if I may say."

Strange's weariness was steadily growing. Wrong turn.

"I don't want to make you trust me." Morgan admitted "Just know that there might be a chance to counterattack. You are linked to the Time Stone, and your awareness of the Soul World is more developed than anyone else's trapped here. We need you against Thanos."

He crossed his arms, silently judging her words, then took a long look at the orange horizon.

"And you said that the last barrier between Thanos and the Soul World is _Loki_." Strange sighed.

"Yes indeed."

"Loki, the Asgardian god?"

"That very one."

"The Loki that tried to destroy New-York with an army of aliens which, come to think about it, was sent by Thanos himself?"

"Believe it or not."

It was becoming harder and harder for Morgan not to burst out laughing. She was so going to get slaughtered by all the Avengers, if they ever recovered their bodies, and if Thanos did not kill her before that.

"Who am I supposed to believe, then?" Strange inquired, out of both apprehension and resignation.

"Morgan La Fay." She grinned, not resisting the temptation of a comical bow.

"You're French?"

She raised her eyebrows, definitely not expecting such an answer.

"Do I still have an accent?"

"Not really, but... What am I even talking about, forget it!"

The Master of the Mystic Arts was completely out of his depth. Morgan carefully memorized this moment, and prayed for a victory over Thanos, if only she could tell it to Loki, savouring a good glass of wine.

"I guess I should go." She said, noticing that Strange could not bring himself to add anything.

 _One last stop before that._

Third encounter. Probably the most difficult one. And the most... Wait, was that music?

It was music, indeed. The man who had taken Doctor Strange's place in front of her was approximately the same height, but apart from that, was the exact opposite of the sorcerer. For that reason alone, Morgan decided that she liked him.

He had headphones on and she could hear what he was listening to. That was new. Plus, he had a sense of rhythm. He was moving and singing, marking the speed of the melody. A rather melancholic one, not really sad, but not joyful either. Morgan had definitely heard it before, something from the eighties, she was sure about that, but she could not remember its title, nor the name of the singer.

" _Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies... Oh, no, no you can't disguise... Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies,_ mh mmmh... Fleetwood Mac." He suddenly told her, without stopping his little dance.

Morgan was speechless. He may as well have asked her if she wanted sugar in her coffee. Not the slightest mark of surprise in his tone.

"C'mon, don't stand rooted to the spot!" He laughed "That song's perfect for this place! It's all a huge big lie, right?"

Still not answering. Unable to. Because her throat was starting to hurt really bad.

Peter Quill sighed and took off his earphones, making the music stop. He looked around him, waving at people Morgan could not see.

"Don't worry guys, I'll come back, just give me a second. Hey, Yondu, I'm sure you'll like the next one!"

Alright, that was the worst. The worst of the worst. He was powerful. Very oddly powerful. Enough to stand right between the influence of the Soul World and the pain of his own memories. He knew that everything and everyone he saw around him was a dream, a sham, but unlike Wanda, he had chosen to fully embrace this madness. Morgan could feel the brutal duality of sentiments inside him. Extreme grief and extreme relief.

"I'm Peter, nice to meet you. But you can call me Star-lord." He smiled, extending his hand.

"Morgan." She managed to speak, awkwardly passing through his hand, as she had no body to shake it "How can you know me at all?"

"Pretty weird, yeah... I feel like I've seen you before, but not exactly you. I mean, I've seen people like you, with the golden eyes and bizarre aura, that kind of thing..."

"Really?! Where? How?"

"Okay, so, it sounds crazy, but my father was a planet, the Universe-domination type. Anyway, I killed him, but before that, he showed me the way he invaded other planets. Apparently, he got the idea from... Well, not you, but..."

"The Soul Stone." Morgan groaned.

He did not answer. Instead, he lowered his gaze, clenching his fists.

"Peter." She started, with a lump in her throat "You know that nothing around you is real, don't you?"

"So, what?"

"This... is not actual life."

"So, _what_?!" He repeated "Why exactly should I care?! Thanos... this fucking... Gamora, he..."

His overflow of emotions seemed to eat him alive. He was in pain. He was in love. Morgan did not know anything about Peter, but she could feel how brutal and pure his affection for Gamora was. If there was love, there was pain. That was the deal. His love destroyed him, and he knew it, and he wanted it, and he ran with it, like a bird in a storm, screaming at the sky to bring it on.

"He won." Morgan hissed "Thanos won."

"I know." He mumbled.

"I don't ask you to do what's right. Here and now, there is no right or wrong. I want to kill Thanos. Help me. We kill him. Then, we save everyone, or we don't save anyone, I don't care. We kill him, that's all. After that, if you want, I can send you back here."

Her tone was cold. Who was speaking, her or the Soul Stone? After all, they had the same voice. As for Peter, he had tears in his eyes. He took time to bring himself to speak, with a fragile and yet fierce glance.

"Yeah. Yeah, let's do that. Let's just avenge."

Morgan solemnly nodded. This was a promise she could not break.

 _Avenge._

"Do you hear me?" She called "All of you."

Peter was gone. She was alone again. But not for long. Gone would be the orange void, soon would come pain, rage, fear, hate and death. Alright, fine for her, she would take them all.

 _Wake up._

She could feel their presence, their conscience. And she could hear their unanimous interior scream, a plea not to be taken out of this world, where there was no suffering, only the joy of seeing their friends, their family, their home...

"Wake up!" Morgan repeated, louder.

No matter how desperately they resisted, she would get them out. Let them hate her for that. Presently, she had one sole objective in mind.

 _Avenge._

Her abilities had nothing in common with those she had, when she had entered the Soul World. She decided who left and who stayed. Morgan mechanically brought her hands to her temples, feeling an intense sensation inside her skull, as if the latter was turning into a raging thunderstorm. Not painful, but not pleasant either. Powerful.

"Wake! Up!" She exclaimed.

They were facing her now, although they could not perceive each other. Strangely, she could both see them all and see them one by one.

"You took us for a ride all along. Nice one." Rocket grinned "Hope you've got a better plan, now."

Yes, she had. Oh, what a plan it was. No matter if they won or lost, their end would be remarkable.

"Adder? Seriously, how could I believe that? You're not better than Lackey." Valkyrie sighed.

Sure, not better, but not worse either. And, _Lackey_? That was a little too easy.

"The Soul Stone? What is it, to you?" Banner questioned.

He would see. They would see. For that, they would have to open their eyes.

"Why are you here? What do you _want_ , exactly?" Romanov interrogated.

Good questions, as always. But if you do not know, Black Widow, this is because you do not need to know.

"You, sneaky liar. Trust me, you won't get off lightly." Barton warned.

Most probably. It was going to be difficult. Anyone would think that Morgan had never liked the easy way. Was it true? Was it a lie? Your guess!

"No more questions." Steve Rogers suddenly cut.

Well said, _Captain_.

Morgan extended her hand towards his forehead, well, towards everyone's forehead, and the colours appeared. Indeed, what previously were homogeneous orange surroundings started to shine with bright flashes of light, blue, green, yellow, red, purple, the most colossal and beautiful firework she had ever seen.

 _Go ahead, Loki. Bring us back._

An indescribable sensation followed. Morgan was herself, and she was the Stone on the Infinity Gauntlet, waiting for the physical connection that would disturb Thanos' control, but she was also them, the Avengers, every single one of them, she was Rogers' will and sadness, and Stark's hope and fury, and Thor's relief and guilt...

And when they opened their eyes, they saw a blue sky above them.

* * *

 **Answer to LaFechaDeSoy (...) Thank you for your appreciation! Great to see that I handle actions scenes well, and especially that Thanos' character is respected! Regarding Loki, well, he surely appears much more powerful than in the movies, but that is completely intended. In front of Thanos, he is rather trying not to lose than to win. Is there a specific moment that made you say "okay, he is clearly overpowered now"? I mean, he manages to hold his own against the Infinity Stones thanks to his skills, immunity to the Soul Stone, the knuckle-duster, but it definitely doesn't last forever. Anyway, glad you liked it!**

 **Concerning the part about Peter and Gamora, I took a few sentences from this remarkable letter by Nick Cave, which is gut-wrenchingly beautiful. Here is the first part:**

 **"It seems to me, that if we love, we grieve. That's the deal. That's the pact. Grief and love are forever intertwined. Grief is the terrible reminder of the depths of our love and, like love, grief is non-negotiable. There is a vastness to grief that overwhelms our minuscule selves. We are tiny, trembling clusters of atoms subsumed within grief's awesome presence. It occupies the core of our being and extends through our fingers to the limits of the universe. Within that whirling gyre all manner of madnesses exist; ghosts and spirits and dream visitations, and everything else that we, in our anguish, will into existence. These are precious gifts that are as valid and as real as we need them to be. They are the spirit guides that lead us out of the darkness."**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	42. What do we do now?

Steve Rogers breathed the morning air. It carried smells of fresh grass and blossoming flowers.

And...

Smells of blood.

Flowers and blood. He knew that smell. The smell of war. A very sudden and very dirty war.

Another war. Of course, wars did not stop. Wars would never stop.

But which war? Who was he supposed to fight? Who was he supposed to protect? Wasn't the war over? Wasn't he standing, the second before, with Peggy at his arm and Bucky in front of...?

 _Bucky._

The dust. The shock. The pain. The helplessness. And, and...

Thanos appearing. Tony coming back. Scott still alive. The shield. The fight. The golden light towards him. Falling asleep. Feeling good. Feeling... home.

The woman with bright eyes.

Steve briskly opened his eyes, taking a much deeper inspiration. Sensations were too numerous, too confusing. He was lying face down, one of his arms was twisted under his chest. His head was hurting, in a very unusual way. Steve had never been sick since he had... Well, since the serum had transformed his body. But the migraine piercing his skull seemed deeper than any kind he had ever experienced.

He rose his head from the ground and looked around him, disoriented, as if the body he was occupying was not his own. But a quick look confirmed that these were indeed his hands resting on the ground, and the harsh breath he heard was no one else's.

A contact on his shoulder made him violently startle. His shield, where was his shield? What should he do, what could he-?

"You're okay. Cap, you're okay."

He knew that voice.

When he turned around, he saw that, obviously, his look rather meant that everything was far from okay, but that he was there, and at least he could be sure of that.

"Tony, w-what happened?" He stammered "H-how did we-"

"Don't know, can't know." The inventor panted "It was... I don't know _what_ it was..."

Despite their mutual confusion, Tony extended his hand to help him standing. As soon as he got on his feet, Steve's head started to spin dangerously. He winced and put his hand on his forehead. Maybe not painful, but extremely disturbing, like a hundred of bells ringing simultaneously inside his brain.

"You've got it too?" Tony asked, with the same troubled expression.

He nodded, still lost between what was real and what was not. Everything had happened too fast. He did not understand. One moment, all this pain and grief was finally over, and the next one, it had started again. He did not feel good. He wanted to scream, and to cry, and to punch something, and to let go of everything, all of that at the same time.

But something deeper than that, something he hoped was his instinct, his _own_ instinct, ordered him to focus on what he could do. What exactly could he do?

Steve surveyed the surroundings, and progressively discerned the shapes of his comrades, some of them still on the ground, some others uneasily standing up.

"Thor..." A feminine voice called "You're alright?"

It was the woman named Valkyrie. Was it even her actual name? No one had thought about asking her. She was clumsily walking towards them, clenching her sword like a life preserver. Steve and Tony synchronously turned around to see Thor a few feet away, staggering a little, one hand holding his axe and the other on his head. He had not been spared by this bizarre migraine either.

"Where... Where is he?" The Asgardian groaned "Where are they?!"

They?

Oh. Right.

There was Thanos and there was Loki.

Steve was still wondering if all of that was not just another giant trick, and if they had actually escaped this world of illusions. But, after consideration, they had. They definitely had. Indeed, he was feeling everything but safe and happy, here and now. Thanos, the biggest threat to the entire universe, was around them but he did not know where exactly. And if Loki had decided to join him...

This headache was really making him slow. _Join_ him? He drove a _knife_ in the Titan's _throat_. Twice. And after that, had been tortured. To sum it up, Thanos was not on Loki's side, and Loki was not on Thanos' side.

Which side was he on, then?

Steve frowned, as he already knew the answer. Loki was on Loki's side, period. But at the moment, that would have to do. They could worry about Thor's brother later. And, frankly, if they had to deal with him again, compared to the Titan, it would be a piece of cake.

Thor was casting frantic glances around him, hoping to find his brother -who by the way was supposed to be dead and certainly not hiding as a snake on a weird woman's shoulders- or maybe...

Yes.

 _Hiding as a snake on a weird woman's shoulders_. Everything in that sentence was crazy. First, he had no idea the Asgardian was an actual shapeshifter, and second... Deep breath. Who was she? Where was she? Where did she come from? What had she done? How did she get them out?

In short, what the heck was happening?!

"Hm, Cap?" Tony interrupted.

He rubbed his temples a little, hoping to make his migraine go away. When he turned them towards the inventor, he saw that he was handing him his shield.

"You might need that."

Probably.

He grabbed his weapon, silently thanking his friend. Why had they done that, he suddenly thought, why, and most of all _how_ had they managed to break so fast apart the team they once were? Ever since Tony's return on Earth, they had not been working as the Avengers, whatever this expression meant. They had been allies more than partners, united in despair and bitterness. But surely, there was something more they could still believe in, wasn't it?

"Okay, what's _that_?"

Clint's incredulous exclamation made Steve realize that almost everyone was gathered. The archer was surveying the landscape, on top of a small hill on his left, and indeed, there was some landscape to survey.

The sun was high in the sky, bluntly revealing the mayhem that had once been verdurous highlands. The most astonishing thing that laid before their eyes was an abyss. Literally, a giant hole carved in the ground. And the remaining ground itself was covered by rocks, but also thin, sharp blades, and all kinds of unusual projectiles. But mostly, not far from the gulf, were two human figures, one kneeled close to the other, who was not moving.

Thor hastily started to get down the hill, and Steve winced before following on his heels.

"Stay on the lookout." He told the others "He could be anywhere."

Warning them was futile. Clint was advancing with an arrow notched to his bow. Tony and Rhodes had put their helmet on, ready to arm their blasters. As he was walking, Steve spotted little but frequent amounts of blood here and there.

Another detail struck him. _The sun high in the sky_. For how long did they stay unconscious? What exactly happened?

It did not take Steve much time to recognize the two persons in front of him. The one still immobile on the ground was the alien woman named Nebula, and she was the sister of one of Thor's acquaintances, as well as the daughter of Thanos, if he had gotten this right.

Steve had seen people in state of shock, but so far, this was nothing compared to what she was in, now.

Physically, she seemed unharmed, yet her eyes were saying something else. A suffering that one could not even conceive. She was trying to regain a normal breath, with a hand on her throat, but was still unable to do so. And the woman crouched next to her was.

Yes, let's stick with just _was_ , because Steve did not know her name and it surely was not Adder.

She was sitting with her back to them, and did not react the slightest to their arrival. All her attention was apparently focused on Nebula. Her hand was resting on the cyborg's forehead, she was not saying a word, not moving either. She was doing something, Steve had no idea what it was, but his first, instinctive thought, was that touching her, in other words destabilizing the very fragile balance she had settled, was the last thing anyone ought to do.

"What are you doing to her?" Tony angrily asked "What did you do to us?!"

Her absence of answer was all it took to drive him enraged. He furiously crossed the distance still separating them, extending his arm to grab hers, possibly to make her face them. Steve rushed towards him on time to prevent this gesture, firmly holding the inventor's shoulders.

"Tony, don't! Don't! She's not our enemy!"

"Well, she doesn't seem like our ally either!"

He was right. Steve could not deny it, a part of him wanted nothing more than grabbing her by the collar of her jacket and ordering her to tell them the truth, now. It was probably the case for every other person around him. He felt like a pawn, an insignificant player manipulated inside a much larger game, of which she knew, if not all, most of the rules. Needless to say, he did not like that. At all.

"You did not see a thing, did you?" She suddenly said.

Her voice was very calm, and yet charged with fury. She withdrew her hand from Nebula, who still could not speak but had managed to regain a somewhat regular breath. Then, she stood up, with her fists closed, and turned around.

 _Oh God._

She was a midget compared to him, let's not even speak about Thor, but now, Steve was fairly certain that no one would dare to make the slightest move against her, at risk of being burnt to a cinder on the spot.

Her eyes were shining with a fascinating, but also extremely threatening golden colour. The pupil had extended to almost the entire iris. Could the picture be made even more supranatural? Sure. Not only her eyes, but the veins on her forehead had taken this weird tint. Whatever she was doing, or had done, or was about to do, it was going to be something. The question was, against whom was it going to be.

Steve briskly realized a second thing, which was even more frightening. _She had not spoken to them_.

"I have to admit that I did not."

The deep, sinister voice of the Titan made everyone shiver. Steve could almost feel Tony choking out of rage. When they turned around, they saw Thanos a few feet away from them. The Space Stone stopped glowing, closing the portal behind him. On his face could be read the utmost battle between control and rage. The reasons for this numbered two.

"Two little rats were all it took..." He sighed, raising the motionless body his right hand was holding.

First reason.

"Loki..." Thor whispered, clenching his axe so hard that Steve would have sworn to hear the handle crack.

The god of Thunder did not dare to make a move, fearing for his brother's life, or whatever was left of it. Blood was dripping of an impressive wound on Loki's head, and this was without considering all his other injuries.

"...to start chaos."

Not Thanos, but the golden-eyed woman, had just added the sentence. She walked closer to the Titan, in a very slow and composed way, putting herself between him and the other Avengers.

"Would you bargain for his life?" Thanos addressed her, a deceitfully amused grin on his face.

Steve could almost feel the rage that was about to burst between the two of them.

"You won't bargain." She hissed "And neither will I."

"Release him. Now." Thor ordered.

The Titan took a long look at him. Then, his gaze surveyed all the Avengers, and Steve knew that each of them was desperately wondering if there was even a chance to make a successful move against him.

"If you insist to burden yourselves with this worthless scum..." The Titan spat, neglectingly tossing Loki at Thor's feet.

Despite his visible urge to take his revenge on Thanos, the god of Thunder could not help but kneeling in front of his brother, clenching his shoulder to protect his body from their enemy. A small but distinct cough notified Steve that Loki was indeed still alive.

Still alive. After fighting against the Titan. With all the Infinity Stones. On his own.

By the way.

Second reason.

Thanos raised his left hand. On the burnt, cracked gauntlet, were shining the blue, red, green, yellow and purple jewels.

 _One was missing._

Steve felt like an electric shock had pierced his skull. His headache was far away, now that the pieces of the puzzle were starting to get together.

"You are right." Thanos admitted "No bargain, for any of you. Only death."

As soon as he finished his sentence, the Reality Stone started to glow. Half of Steve's mind immediately told him that it was over, undeniably over, but the other half, the one that had screamed him that he could still do something, asserted that he had certainly not woken up just to fall asleep again.

Of course, the latter half was right, but nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to see. The dark-haired woman extended both her arms in front of her, and the Avengers found themselves surrounded by an orange aura, against which violently collided what looked like a red fluid, reminding Steve of solidified blood.

"It's the..." Valkyrie started, visibly too astonished to finish her sentence.

The picture was both hypnotic and terrifying. The group was protected by a shapeless shield, which appeared wherever the Reality Stone's energy was striking. No matter the frame or the extend of this strange animated liquid, any of his assaults, either from above them, or behind them, was ending up against an indestructible force-field.

"You..." Thanos roared out of madness "Little...!"

This time, the Avengers found themselves surrounded by blue shockwaves and explosions. Which ended up against the same impenetrable barrier. Standing between them and Thanos, her arms still rigidly in front of her, the woman was not moving. She was like a rock, a tiny, insignificant rock but a rock nonetheless, defying the power of the Infinity Gauntlet, smashing apart the terribly organized domination of the Titan.

Alright, she was on their side.

The apocalypse followed, and yet no one suffered it. Whatever Thanos was throwing at them, whichever Stone he was using, had absolutely no effect against every single person standing. This cataclysmic show was one of a kind. Out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw that Nebula had gotten on the knees, her shaking hands still on the ground but her eyes wide open, unable to process what was happening. Same thing for pretty much everyone else. Even Thor, who was carefully supporting his brother against his shoulders, could not articulate a word.

Each Stone's power was ineffective. The green circles created by the Time Stone were shattered as soon as they appeared. The yellow aura that appeared around the Mind Stone did not last more than a couple of seconds. Suddenly, after having repelled an even larger red energy, the woman spread her arms apart, and it literally shattered the Reality Stone's aura. Her reaction directly impacted Thanos, who stepped backwards under the impact.

The picture was completely reversed. The Titan was not in control anymore. And when she spoke again, the satisfaction in her voice was almost palpable.

"I am Morgan. And I will be your death."

A tiny, weak burst of laughter followed, and Steve realized that it was coming from Loki, whose legs were still not supporting him, but who had every reason to feel extremely satisfied by this turn of events.

The Titan did not answer. Gone was his cold serenity, gone was his righteous assurance. He had nothing in common with the one that had appeared in Wakanda, to tranquilly walk towards Vision, disarming every single one of his opponents with crushing ease in the process. Presently, the only thing Thanos let out was an inarticulate scream of rage.

The Power Stone projected the largest shockwave Steve had ever seen. His instinctively braced for the impact, wondering if the woman, Morgan, would still be able to counter it.

And she did, but she did not stop there. The orange shield blocking the purple energy started to move forward. She was not only defending, she was attacking. Steve watched her concentrated, impatient gaze, as she progressively _imprisoned_ the Power Stone's aura, then creating an orange barrier around the Infinity Gauntlet itself.

Thanos was astounded. He looked at his left arm, still glowing with an unreal orange light, with an expression of disbelief.

Steve looked at Morgan, and noticed that this effort was starting to get its toll on her body. Her arms were shaking. Her breath was accelerating. Her nose was starting to bleed.

"Hurry..." She painstakingly articulated.

"Cap?" Clint suddenly interrupted "What do we do now?"

Indeed, now, they certainly could do something. He clenched his shield.

"Now we fight. And we win."

The Avengers attacked.

* * *

It was now or never. Steve did not know how, although he had some probably accurate hypotheses, but Morgan was preventing Thanos to use the Infinity Stones. All of them.

Tony was the first to strike. The Titan's skin was incredibly resistant, but the fully charged quantum blaster left a deep burn on his chest, and Thanos let out an exclamation of pain. The shots fired by Rocket and Rhodes finished to make his drop his guard. Steve did not lose his time. He attacked. With his shield, with his bare fists. Undeniably, Thanos was an extremely strong opponent, even in hand-to-hand combat. He still had in mind the blow that knocked him down in Wakanda. But presently, Steve only had names in mind.

 _T'Challa. Sam. Wanda. Vision. Bucky._

A punch for each name. A revenge for each death. He barely saw Tony next to him, giving his charges more momentum thanks to his propulsors, but he instinctively coordinated with him, letting him hit, then taking over. They were joined by Natasha and Valkyrie, swinging their weapons with all their might, then by an arrow right in Thanos' neck, maybe not deep enough but destabilizing enough, then again by what looked like an invisible man punching the Titan in the face, which was of course Scott.

Steve had never really taken pleasure in a fight, but he could not deny, _that_ was enjoyable.

Nevertheless, Thanos was not easy to overcome. His wrath gave him endurance and strength. He managed to grab Valkyrie's sword with his bare hand, and to swing her right at War Machine, who fell under the impact. However, both of them got up quickly, one protected by his armour, the second by her natural stamina.

Natasha's spear opened a thin but long cut on Thanos' face, but the Titan caught hold of her weapon as well, and propelled her a few feet away. Steve had to rush to throw his shield at his face when he next seized Scott, who had regained his normal size, by the throat. Thanos dropped him but Steve could not avoid a painful kick in the stomach. He fell on his knees, short of breath. Would have he been a normal human being, the impact would have killed him on the spot.

But no. He could not allow himself to stop. They were almost there. It did not matter if he got severely wounded. Thanos' rage was one of cornered, wounded beasts. They were going to win! They _had_ to win!

Tony was alone to face the Titan. Both were attacking with impressive speed and dexterity. However, one of Thanos' blows managed to hit his target. Tony fell on the ground, maybe not wounded but at a disadvantage. And all of a sudden, a very characteristic noise made Steve think that okay, fine, language and all of that, but as Clint said once, the shit's going to hit the fan.

A gigantic thunderstorm ripped the sky apart, opening the way to all of Thor's might. Tony wisely moved aside as the Asgardian swung his axe at the Titan. Not at his chest. Not at his head.

But at his arm.

The amount of purple blood that followed was really gruesome, but Steve did not care, really. It was going to be over. Soon, it was going to be over. And maybe, maybe they could undo this nightmare! Maybe they could all go-

" _Naja_."

What?

The Titan's arm had not been totally severed. The flesh had been lacerated, but the bone was somehow still in place, leaving a disgusting half-cut arm hanging on the left side of his body. His face was torn by incommensurable pain, and his valid hand was holding onto Thor's axe to prevent him from moving it again.

Everyone around was frozen. Waiting for the final blow. But strangely, Thanos had not looked at Thor, when he had spoken this strange name.

Steve turned around, first noticing Bruce, Loki and Nebula, at a safe distance from them, but mostly at Morgan, a few feet away. She was exhausted, wincing out of pain, her arms violently trembling, and blood running from her nose, dripping on the ground.

But, most of all, she looked afraid. Terrified.

"Your friend is dead." Thanos smiled weakly " _I won_."

Steve did not understand a word, but a very sharp warning surged in his mind. A lingering sense of déjà-vu. And he wanted to stop her, but he knew that he could not.

The golden colour faded in Morgan's eyes. They were becoming... normal. Normal, standard human brown eyes. A tear rolled down one of them.

 _Oh, no. Please, no._

Steve did not even need to look at the Gauntlet to know that the orange aura had vanished. And what shown on it was not the Power Stone, nor the Space Stone, not even the Reality Stone. Steve just saw a brief yellow flash. Immediately after, Thor turned around.

For a few seconds, Steve was not able to tell what had changed exactly in him. Then, when he looked at his friend's eyes, he felt a very unpleasant shiver down his spine.

Strangely enough, since Thor's return to Earth, his eyes were of different colour. But now, they were not. Now, they were shining with the very same colour, which the Avengers knew too well.

Bright blue.

"Now, kill." Thanos ordered.

* * *

 **PUT THESE GUNS DOWN PLZ**

 **You know it's not over. I'm a sadist and I take my time. So, how is it? I mean, Steve's point of view? Do I manage it correctly ('cause if I don't, I better know it right now, as, you guessed it, I will write the other Avengers too)?**

 **Alright, I don't really know what to add, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter (and guess who narrates next?)**


	43. Talking nonsense

_We're fucked._

That was the first of Tony Stark's thoughts. As well as the second, the third and the fourth. Frankly, he did not even know if he was going to live long enough to have a fifth.

"You know who to slaughter first."

Thanos' voice was marked by the surreal combination of suffering and enjoyment. Tony felt like caught in a dream. The scene in front of him seemed to pass in slow motion; the Titan, covered in blood and yet smiling, Thor, his shiny blue eyes looking so sure of the person he was not, and, a little further away, the woman who had provoked all of this. Who had brought the Avengers back. Who had brought Loki back. Who had stolen the Soul Stone. Who was the most dangerous and immediate threat. The one to slaughter first.

From then on, everything went too fast for Tony's brain to process it. He watched with stupefaction as the god of Thunder brandished his axe once again, and swung it at incredible speed at the dark-haired woman, still petrified by shock. However, the sound that followed was not one of crushed flesh, but a much more metallic one.

Cap. Of course, it _had_ to be Cap.

Steve, favoured by his super-human reflexes, but mostly by his greater proximity with her than anyone else's, had been the first to react, and was now standing behind his shield, which was still in astonishingly good shape. Storm-breaker had drawn a long, visibly deep crack on the Vibranium surface, yet it remained in one piece. But it was certainly not the time to test the quantum shield limits.

Thoughts were battling inside Tony's mind. On the one hand, he knew that Thanos was still weakened, and that he could still possibly, _possibly_ have a chance to finish him off. On the other hand, there was this word. Possibly. Thanos still had five Infinity Stones. He could still counter any attack. Also, that would leave Thor an opening to strike again, and if the woman (what was her name again? Susan? Megan? Didn't hear correctly, couldn't remember exactly) died, they would all, not possibly, but _surely_ , die. For good.

With a groan of rage, against the Titan, against himself, and against this little liar for whom it was making so much sense to collaborate with Loki, Tony rushed towards Thor, who was about to swing his weapon anew, and pinned him to the ground. Then, he squeezed the Asgardian's wrists as firmly as he could, and the nanites forming his suit shaped two large cuffs fixed to the soil. That would probably not last long, but it was better than nothing.

Tony's momentum had made Thor drop his axe, but the god was wildly battling against his restraints, which were already grating out of protestation.

"Can someone knock him very hard on the head?!" He called.

Obviously, attempts to reason Thor, or to call for his hidden subconscious, whatever that meant, would have zero effect. Out of the corner of his eye, Tony saw that the Titan, still smirking, was slowly repairing the ghastly wound on his left arm, which was glowing with the red colour of the Reality Stone. Tony wanted to scream out of sheer fury. They had been so close. So close.

"Move _away_!" Thor suddenly ordered, with a tone that didn't look too good.

Fortunately, this was the moment Rhodey chose to intervene, helping him to maintain the Asgardian's shoulders on the ground, and arming the gigantic taser attached to his armour. Despite the desperate situation he was into (rather, because of the desperate situation he was into), Tony wanted to laugh. A taser? Against the god of Thunder? Really?

But he did not have the chance to see whether that was efficient or not, because Thor tore apart the metal bond around his right fist, and directed the latter right at Tony's stomach.

Ouch.

The armour absorbed most of the shock, but he still found himself propelled a few feet away. He was starting to feel dizzy. His breath was becoming heavier. Not good at all. Next to him, a loud noise made him understand that the War Machine suit didn't really do better.

Suddenly, a loud scream of pain made him shiver. He turned his head towards the place where Steve previously was. The latter was wincing, trying to get his breath back after what had surely been a powerful punch delivered by Thor in the chest. The scream was not coming from Steve but from the woman. She was presently immobilized by the Asgardian, whose colossal strength was literally crushing all the bones of her right wrist. She had fallen on her knees, vainly trying to withdraw her hand from this iron grip. Tears of terror and helplessness were running from her eyes, now completely devoid of any golden tint. And Thor had raised his axe.

 _Fucking psychopath_ was far from enough to describe Thanos.

He could not let Thor do that. To be clear, not that Tony was ready to sacrifice his life for the safety of the woman who had apparently manipulated them like mere pawns, but he just could not let Thor massacre her, and then, logically, everyone else.

He still could not accept that the kid whom it was his responsibility to protect had turned to ashes in his arms.

He still could not accept that he had miraculously returned to Earth just to learn that Pepper had vanished too.

He was certainly not going to accept that Thor would be the one to kill him, to kill them all.

No, if they were to die, it would be by Thanos' hand (well, Gauntlet) and no one else.

"Thor! You're a moron but try at least to resist that!"

And that came from the other Asgardian badass, Conina the warrior, sorry, the Valkyrie, angrily countering the god of Thunder's axe with her sword. However, even Tony could see that she was no match for him. Her weapon was vibrating under the impacts of Storm-breaker, and even there, he was pretty sure that Thor was not going right ahead (but certainly would if Thanos gave him the exact order). At least he had dropped the raven-haired woman in the process.

Tony saw an opening, and did not lose time hesitating. He flied towards the mind-controlled god and delivered the most powerful punch he was able to deliver, right between the eyes. Sadly, this was not enough to knock him down. Thor stumbled backwards, but when he got back on his feet, all he did was to ragefully shake his head and give him an extremely threatening look.

"You... are going to regret that." The Asgardian groaned.

 _He's pissed off. Great job, Tony. Now's maybe the time to consider using the quantum blasters at him._

But Tony did not even have the time to engage them. Thor had already kicked him in the chest, right in his Ark reactor. He fell on his back, unable to breathe. Shockwaves of pain were flashing through his body, and a myriad of little black dots were dancing before his eyes. A part of him wished his numbness was deeper, in order not to see Thor above him, his bright, unnatural blue gaze expressing all the ferocity they could display. Needless to say, a lot.

 _If only Wanda was here._

But Wanda was not here, Wanda had turned to dust, it was his fault Wanda had been imprisoned, and he was going to get slowly beaten up by Thor.

Although maybe Hulk could help.

Wait, what?

Tony was truly uncapable to say how great it felt, to spot Banner's enraged alias next to him, letting out his characteristic scream that meant something like me-smashing-face-of-you. Valkyrie was not done either, and made the most of Thor's surprise to punch him under the chin.

Hulk slammed his fists on the ground and rushed towards the god of Thunder.

 _Thanks, Bruce. I don't know how you did it, nor when you did it, but thanks. Don't pull your punches._

And yet, this only seemed to increase Thor's madness. His axe started to crackle with electricity, and he violently smashed the ground as well, creating a shockwave that propelled everyone near him on the ground again, and made Hulk vanish.

...

MADE.

HULK.

VANISH?!

 _Please, don't be what I'm starting to think you are._

And yet, it was. When Tony turned his head on the left, he first spotted Nebula, next to her Bruce, who was nothing else than Bruce, both of them completely astonished. Obviously, the reason for their astonishment was lying a few feet away from where Hulk previously was.

Tony didn't know why (better not ask why), but his clearly pictured some random child asking "Mr Stark, what do you mean by emotional rollercoaster?".

 _Well kid, it's when you think that your green giant friend is about to save the day, and then realize that he was actually some kind of projection created by a guy who's been taking the piss out of everyone for days on, disguised as a snake._

Tony could almost hear the collective sigh of disappointment. The worst was that Loki had kind of saved him. That hurt. A lot.

Although, talking about pain, Thor's brother was not in the best shape ever. He had also been knocked down by the impact of Storm-breaker, and was still trying to stop the flow of blood running from his head. He barely had the time to stand up that the god of Thunder was already in front of him.

"Enough with your tricks!" Thor intimated.

He seized the other Asgardian's neck, probably to prevent him from casting other illusions, but did not use the axe he was still holding against him.

"I... will not... fight you... brother." Loki painstakingly articulated, both of his hands grabbing Thor's arm, in an attempt to loosen the latter's grip.

If that sentence was supposed to provoke any kind of reaction from Thor, well, it failed. But at least, it gave Tony a handful of seconds to engage his propulsors and gain height, then to arm his left blaster and try to calm the god of Thunder a little.

Yeah, try. Because Terminator's impressive reflexes made him counter his attack before he even launched it. How so, one would ask? By throwing what he was presently holding right at him. That was to say, Loki.

Tony's head was hit by the half-dead Asgardian's elbow, and he completely lost his balance, which lead to a not very glorious crash in the nearby flower field. Were these fucking _daisies_?

What was left of his sanity was surely not going to last.

He let out an enraged groan, standing with more difficulty than he wished to. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Loki, a few metres away, was finding it even harder to get up.

True, he really was messed up. Physically, at least. How could he even speak more than two coherent words with that gruesome wound on his head? As for the mentally messed up part, of which Tony had been a privileged witness, he was not sure that this same blow had made things better.

"You stay here, okay Edge-lord? You've done enough."

He had tried to sound convincing, but something was odd. However, he did not have the leisure to ask himself what exactly, as Thanos' voice suddenly resonated like their death knell.

"Do not spare anyone, Thunderer!" He commanded "Slay them all."

Tony realized that his arm was almost entirely healed, which meant that he could soon join the battle again. Or maybe he would not even bother doing so. Maybe he would just watch Thor exterminate them. That seemed like a very Thanos-ish thing to do.

Thor did not answer. He kept a severe face as he rose his axe and unilaterally decided what the next weather forecast would be. Which would be extremely unpleasant for anyone around. Tony had to do something, _now_.

Someone did something, but it was not Tony. Nor Loki. Indeed, as the god of Thunder was taking momentum to jump higher and let the thunder strike, his ankles were instantly ensnared by a solid rope, which led to the most anti-climactic end of such a dramatic beginning. Tony was almost certain (and prayed for it to be the case) that Thor had crashed with a very high-pitched yelp, which made him thank Destiny for still having some sense of humour.

"Each in turn." Loki scoffed, behind him.

Tony turned around and his gaze met the trickster's, who could still not stand, but could certainly smirk.

 _For fuck's sake, why am I not completely hating this bastard?_

All the credit went to Clint, though. The latter was still very concentrated, after having swung the bolas, he set on to throw two strange manacles at the not-so-proud-now god of Thunder, which automatically locked around his wrists.

"Do not dare..." Thor threatened.

"Uh, yeah, we dare." Rocket intervened.

The space racoon pushed the little switch Tony noticed he was holding, and the two cuffs were instantly drawn to what surely were two powerful magnets he had previously disposed on the ground. Thor fell on his back, with his arms stretched out, unable to pick his axe.

"Rhodey?" Tony called "Taser?"

But _obviously_ , that was _still_ not enough for the Asgardian, who contracted his muscles with a growl of frustration, and slowly managed to raise his hands away from the trap.

Only to receive a proper punch in the face by Valkyrie, who swiftly kicked Storm-breaker away, to prevent Thor from grabbing it. The mesmerized god replied with an equally powerful punch, but his opponent easily managed to dodge it. Now, it was her turn to have the upper hand, as Thor constantly had to resist the attraction of the magnets. Valkyrie was quick and agile, rapidly finding ways to weaken Thor's fragile balance.

"Come on!" She fiercely shouted "Snap! Out! Of! It!"

With each exclamation came a blow. Tony could do nothing else than appreciate her even more, if that was possible. Yet, nothing was getting Thor out of his trance. And apparently, it was not enough for Thanos.

"Stop stalling!" The Titan shouted "I told you to SLAY THEM ALL!"

Tony gasped as the Mind Stone shone again, to intensify its pressure. Soon after, Thor's entire body was surrounded by lighting, and he delivered such a colossal punch to Valkyrie that Tony could hear the thunder rumble.

She almost flew right at him, and he caught her before she could touch the ground. Tony felt a terrible shiver down his spine. However, a few seconds later, he saw the woman gasping for air, then coughing drops of blood. She was alive. _That_ was insane. No one else could have survived such a blow.

"Valkyrie... Is she...?"

Loki was walking, rather, staggering, towards him. Concern could easily be read on his face.

"She's alive." Tony informed him.

He laid her down with precaution. She was probably unconscious, and her breath was irregular. Not very good, but at least she still had a breath.

Yeah, what a way to relativize.

Sounds of battle informed him that the god of Thunder was not stopping. He was now facing Steve and Rhodey, who could barely sustain the assaults of Storm-breaker. But Thor's real target was standing a little further away.

"Morgan..." He heard Loki whisper.

Morgan? _Morgan_ , of all existing names.

And there was that odd thing again.

Indeed, Loki had spoken with concern upon seeing Valkyrie unconscious. But there, it was stronger. There was worry, even more, genuine fear in his voice. That felt so... _off_ , to Tony.

But he had no time for a psychological evaluation.

"You take care of her, okay?" He asked, pointing Valkyrie out "I'll take care of the Snake Whisperer."

If Loki was about to answer something, protest or whatever, he did not listen, as he directly engaged his propulsors to fly towards Morgan.

She did not look great either. Her breath was jolty, due to both exhaustion and fear. She was staggering away from Thor, holding her right arm against her chest, and refraining exclamations of pain. Her face was covered with fresh tears and dried blood, and her eyes did not have the slightest tint of gold Tony had seen when she had countered Thanos.

To say that just one word had been enough. _Naja_ , what was that? A type of snake, Tony knew that, but also another ally? What was she still hiding? What was her plan? Did she actually have one?

"Okay, I really don't know how your power works, but we need it now!" He hastily said, right after having landed in front of her.

"I c-can't..." She stammered "I can't!"

"Oh yes, you can! You must!" Tony shouted "Isn't that why you got all of us out? To get this over with?"

Two sudden shouts of pain indicated that both Rhodey and Steve could not hold the entranced god of Thunder anymore. Tony quickly turned around and took off his helmet, to fix his gaze on the woman's brown eyes. True, without her failure, they could have been finally done with Thanos. But without her help, they could never have faced him again. At this very moment, all past mistakes and successes were irrelevant.

"We all lost!" He hurriedly continued, at the sight of Thor coming closer to them, now facing Clint, Nat and Rocket, but easily getting them out of his way "Friends, families, part of ourselves, I did, you did! And maybe they won't ever come back, but if you don't fight right now-"

He could not finish that sentence. First, because he had never been a sucker for motivational speech, contrary to some well-known blond guy, second, because Thor had just started to raise his axe, and Tony had decided that striking first would be the only available option. The energy surging from his blasters collided with the Asgardian's weapon, creating a shockwave which impact was enough to send both him and Tony to the ground.

When he got up again, he honestly expected it to be too late, and to see Thor about to behead him but fortunately, it was quite the opposite.

Morgan's eyes were definitely not as shiny as they were before, however she had managed to regain some degree of self-control. Which seemed to be enough for her to repel the Mind Stone's influence. Still on his knees, Thor was wincing, a hand over his head, and the blue colour of his eyes becoming less and less intense.

How was she doing that, Tony wondered, how could she counter the other Stones' power? How exactly did the Soul Stone work? By the way, where was it? What did she do with it, eat it?

But the fact was, it was working. Slowly, but surely, working. Tony just hoped that Thor would not-

"W-what... What's happening?!" Morgan abruptly screamed.

What the hell now?!

Judging by her tone and her frantic gestures, the raven-haired woman was growing increasingly panicked. And her eyes...

 _Holy shit her eyes._

They were changing colour, again. But it was not really a colour. They were progressively invaded by a murky, white-grey fog, which seemed to eat the iris away, and immediately reminded Tony of...

"Stark, what's happening? I-I can't see! I can't see! What's going on?!"

Tony did not even need to turn towards the Titan, whose arm was completely healed by now, and who seemed to be more than enjoying his current use of the Reality Stone.

"Now, let's see if you still want to turn a blind eye on your own failures." Thanos mercilessly stated.

Tony barely had the time to think that he dashed towards the woman, a millisecond before Thor's fist reached her. His armour protected him, but the momentum sent him rolling down the hill he was standing on. Morgan stumbled alongside him. She could barely breathe, due to her incommensurable anxiety, reinforced by the pain of her right wrist, which must have broken further, but mostly by the absolute horror of finding herself plunged in the dark. She tried to stand but could not keep a steady balance, mechanically advancing her left arm in front of her, to scan the invisible surroundings.

Alright, Tony did not appreciate her, but he would not wish such a thing to happen to anyone.

"I c-can't see! I can't see you!" She continued to shout "W-where are you?!"

At this moment, although he did not know why at all, Tony knew that she was not talking to him. She was constantly turning around in panic, and yet she seemed to be speaking to _herself_. Was she supposed to see something everyone else could not see?

 _That would mean our lives depend on hallucinations and voices in her head but you know, at this stage..._

The rumble of thunder again. Thor was still under the Mind Stone's influence. Tony felt an enormous wave of discouragement on his shoulders. They could not win. Ever. Not against both him and Thanos.

"Morgan!"

This mechanical voice was recognizable among all others. Nebula was kneeling in front of the distressed woman. She did not seem well either. As if she was overwhelmed by some phantom physical pain. However, all her attention was presently focused on Morgan.

"I-it's over! I'm lost! I lost _me_!" The latter stammered, talking about herself as if she was a completely different person.

"No, you haven't!" Nebula protested, clenching both her shoulders to keep her still "The Reality Stone changes Thanos' perception of reality! Not yours!"

The cyborg was interrupted by Thor's arrival. Rather, Thor's attempt at arriving. Because, as he was flying, his legs were caught by the hand of a gigantic Scott Lang, who did not lose time swinging him in the opposite direction.

"Run! I'll hold him back!"

He really was huge, but his moves were slow. Plus, that made him an even bigger target for the god of Thunder. They really did not have much time.

"Y-you don't know what you're saying!" Morgan told Nebula, tears running from her cloudy eyes "You're talking nonsense!"

"Yes! I am! Complete nonsense! Isn't that what you're proud of?! Isn't that what you want to defeat Thanos with?!"

Talking about nonsense, Tony was completely lost, now. And it was enough for Thor to come back, apparently. He swung his axe at Scott, who had no choice but to shrink back to his normal size to avoid it. Next, the god of Thunder punched the earth with what Tony hoped was all his power, because it created a wave of thunder that struck everyone around him.

Absolutely no one was spared. The only reason for which Tony was still conscious was the protection of his suit. The smoke created by the raging thunder was making it hard to tell who was who, but he could spot Steve, Clint and Natasha, even Bruce, a little further away, all immobile on the ground. No, they could not be...

The vision of all the Avengers' corpses, the one that made him decide to take a step further in protecting the Earth, and lead him to create Ultron, brutally came back to his mind.

No, they could _not_ be dead.

He laboriously crawled towards Morgan, still unsure of his movements, and checked for heartbeats. She was alive. Stunned, covered with bruises and blood, but alive. The electric shock had not been lethal. He choked out of relief.

"Stop trying to run." Thor ordered.

He briskly turned around, ready to fire. However, the god of Thunder was not standing in front of him. No, he was actually pretty far away, with Thanos observing him, and holding...

And holding _Morgan_?

For a couple of seconds, Tony's head alternated between unconscious-Morgan-next-to-him and conscious-Morgan-trapped-by-Thor. What was- oh.

Oh.

The worst was, Tony was far less surprised than he should have been.

"Morgan" could not escape Thor's grip. As the Asgardian was about to direct Storm-breaker at her head, her entire body shimmered with green. The god of Thunder instantly froze.

"Ha, brother, you fool..." Loki smirked, blood dripping at the corner of his mouth "It's me."

Then, in a completely unexpected gesture, he raised his right hand to violently press it against his brother's forehead. The effect was immediate; Thor's eyes rolled backwards with a groan of pain, and he let go of his giant axe, which fell on the ground in a resounding clank. The god of Thunder followed. He first dropped Loki, who seemed completely knocked out as well, then collapsed, clearly unconscious.

Holy shit. Had Loki really done that? Had he just triggered some kind of psychic mumbo-jumbo and countered the Mind Stone's power? Please, yes. Please, let it be the case.

Luckily, Tony's doubts vanished very quickly, as Thanos' reaction to Loki's move did not go unnoticed.

"So, this scum of the earth is not quite dead yet..." He observed.

Judging by the Titan's incommensurable fury at the mere sight of Loki (although that could be excused, to a certain extent), Tony was starting to become pretty sure that Thor's brother had totally ruined his plan.

 _Stop that Tony, stop that, otherwise you're going to end up appreciating him._

Yet, he had to admit, this was Loki and, in a way, this was not Loki. Not the Loki he had seen, at least. Nothing in his speech or even body language was screaming _I'm an emo maniac with family issues_ like it did when he was constantly repeating that he had an army and was going to destroy them all, kneel before me, et cetera, visibly having something to compensate for. Anyway. This Loki here seemed much more into the annoying, alright, but mentally sane, jackass. Which, got to admit, Tony had to, if not appreciate, be curious about at some point.

But, seriously? The snake. The fucking snake. All. This. Time.

Although maybe, just maybe, it was a pretty cool idea. Could even have worked, had Thanos not been able to resurrect himself.

Also, maybe he did not deserve to be tortured that way.

Yeah, that was a huge maybe, because Loki was _still_ the cause of the alien invasion of New-York and, as a side-note, of his post-traumatic stress disorder. To be perfectly honest, which Tony didn't manage to be most of the time, a part of himself kind of wanted to ask him how it felt, to see the people you love having their mind controlled to kill you. Not pleasant, right?

But then, what? Laughing at the face of his half-dead former opponent wasn't going to make him feel better. Actually, Tony felt pretty sick. Loki had seen his brother -their relationship had apparently evolved- trying to kill him, and had definitely been in for a rough time in front of Thanos. The mere fact that he was still breathing was a miracle in itself. This guy surely still had some tricks up his sleeve.

So, when the Power Stone shone again, Tony had fully made up his mind, leading to the association of two words he would never have imagined to think about; save Loki.

He his armour propellers at full power, flying towards the god and grabbing him by the collar of his jacket -maybe not very recommended for a wounded but you know, it's the thought that counts- and bringing him metres away from where he previously was, which was nothing but a fuming crater now.

Tony armed his blasters, ready to counter the next attack. Next to him, Loki moved a little, then made a strange sound. Oh, right, words. He was trying to say something.

"Ugh... M'r'gn..."

Uh-huh. Did not really go without saying.

Loki spat the blood that was seemingly blocking his throat, then tried again.

"M... Morganwhere'sshe?"

Tony quickly opened his helmet, still casting frenetic glances around them, waiting for Thanos to appear again.

And yes, Morgan. Obviously, if Loki was ever going to make an ally, _obviously_ it was going to be someone as twisted and irritating as him. And it seemed that she was a little more than an ally but he didn't know exactly and now was not the time to care.

"She's fine, okay? She's fine. And your brother too, in case you wondered."

Definition of fine for Tony Stark at the moment: not dead, not dying and not in the process of being mentally framed to kill everyone around. Which left quite a large grey area, but Loki didn't need to know that.

The latter rose from the ground, resting on one knee, short of breath. The sound of rubbles suddenly made them both startle. Thanos had appeared right in front of them, and was...

Stop. Pause. Rewind. Was Loki really doing that?

Tony cast an incredulous look at Thor's brother, who had extended a hand towards their opponent, with a concentrated, exhausted but quite satisfied face, as dozens of fake Iron Man were apparently shooting at him.

Okay. Ooookay. Turning into a snake. Breaking the Mind Stone's control. Creating illusions even when about to pass out. How did this guy actually manage to _lose_ against them?

In any case, Thanos could not help but replying with some blue and purple shockwaves, as he had no more Soul Stone to tell the difference between the real and the fake.

"Take your time, Stark." Loki angrily cut "Seriously, help yourself a tea."

Jerk.

But he was right, as impressive as it was, this display was not going to last very long, So, Tony put his helmet back on, immediately noticing that none of Loki's illusions was standing before his eyes anymore. Apparently, the god's magic could fool eyes but could not modify reality seen through a screen. Interesting.

He rushed at full speed towards the Titan, but even the surprise effect did not do him much damage. Frankly speaking, Tony was exhausted. His fight against Thor had not arranged the mental strain that his exit of the Soul Stone had caused. He got hit by the Power Stone's energy quite easily, too easily. As he was trying to take his breath back, hoping that his suit nanites would be dense enough to resist further attacks, he saw the Mind Stone glowing again.

Who? Who was Thanos trying to control, this time? Thor? Still unconscious. Loki? In that case, he would not be much of a challenge.

Tony was starting to get even more confused, especially when Thanos let out a groan of anger, then used the Mind Stone again. Only then did he understand, at the sight of the Titan's gaze, directed at him and no one else.

The Mind Stone was not working on him. No matter the support, a sceptre or a gauntlet, it had no effect on him. Maybe because it needed a purely organic heart-to-brain connection, and in that case, Tony was a GMO.

Plus, if it was really Loki whom he had just heard sneering and saying _performance issues_ , no matter what, would they win, Tony would open his bottle of Laphroaig 14-year-old.

"I see..." Thanos slowly observed "I understand why it was so wary of you."

What? What was he talking about?

"You have witnessed the awareness of the Mind Stone, haven't you, Stark?" The Titan pursued, abandoning his attempts at controlling him "You fought it, resisted it, and even more, bended it to your will."

Tony clenched his fist, as the images of Vision came back into his mind.

"So, I take it that one of your pebbles is afraid of me?" He provoked.

 _Touché._

Thanos' annoyed grin was enough for him to understand. This was why the Titan had appeared in front of them in Wakanda. He had apparently used the Soul Stone to spy on them, but the reason he had done so was the warning of the Mind Stone. It was suspicious of what Tony had done and what he could do. It was, indeed, afraid of him, and had transmitted some of this fear to its wielder.

So far, good enough for Tony's ego.

"Ugh, what... what... happened..."

Thor's feeble voice was half a relief, half a threat. Tony saw that he was struggling to get up, but he was not sure whether or not his eyes had regained their normal colour. He looked around him, visibly confused, then spotted Thanos.

"You... I will..."

"Brother, wait." Loki intimated, as he put a firm hand on Thor's shoulder, to prevent him from rushing head-on to their enemy.

"It appears indeed that your mind has more resources than the mighty king of Asgard, Stark." Thanos admitted "And especially than his meagre excuse of a brother. His mind was so easy to bend, it was ridiculously stupid."

These words were enough to confirm Tony's doubts. And when he took another look at Loki, gone was the latter's arrogant and cocky attitude. At the moment, he looked enraged, afraid, ashamed, well too aware of having been one among countless tools in the Titan's great game.

"Generally, the most genius plans are ridiculously stupid." Tony taunted.

The Titan sighed at his answer.

"You may have gained some time. But what is the point of all this? It will be enough for me to watch you fighting the Thunderer again, until you finally break."

The Mind Stone started to shine again.

Oh. Not good. Notgoodnotgoodnotgood.

"He is right. You do not stand a chance, Stark."

Seriously? Loki, _again_?

Thor's brother was standing up, and despite his beaten-up look, had spoken with the most provocative tone he could display. You know, this Loki-level of being a pain in the ass, well, it was back.

What other crazy stuff did he have in mind, now?

"You have already faced my brother, haven't you?" Loki continued "Have you forgotten how it ended?"

 _With you locked up in a fish tank, dumbass._

"Oh, I think he does remember." Thor slowly added.

A disagreeable shiver ran down Tony's spine. The god of Thunder had gotten up. His face was tightened by rage. He grabbed his axe, and Loki could not anything else than turn around, before being punched in the chest and losing his balance.

"Did you really think that your petty spell would work on me?" Thor disdainfully said to his brother.

He then turned to face Tony, while thunder started to crackle around him. But one detail was missing...

His eyes. His eyes were _not_ blue. And yet, he still seemed to act under the Mind Stone's control. Hey. Wait a sec... Why had Loki suddenly evoked the little scuffle he had had against Thor? How did it actually end?

As for Thanos, he looked quite satisfied by this turn of events. The Mind Stone stopped shimmering. Thor surrounded Storm-breaker with a gigantic lightning bolt. Tony's thoughts were desperately trying to make sense of what was going on. Suddenly, he spotted Loki, still on the ground, with a hand over his chest, but with a very characteristic grin on his face.

Like last time. When he was watching Thor and him fight. It must have been really fun for him to see him sending the bewildered god of Thunder bite the dust with-

 _You, sly son of a bitch._

Tony put his arm in front of him, like a desperate attempt to protect himself from Thor's rage, and this was the moment the god chose to send all the electricity he could possibly summon right at his armour.

Precisely, right at his brand-new quantum blasters. For a few seconds, Tony was surrounded by such a bright light that he had to close his eyes as firmly as he could. Despite the isolation system, he could feel his hair and skin tickle due to the intensity of the electric current circulating across his suit. Those sudden and brutal sensations made him wobble.

"Power at 400%." An automatic message notified him.

 _Sweet._

Now was the perfect moment to send it right at Thanos' Gauntlet.


	44. Not only angry

The sudden light was blinding, still, Loki wished for everything but to look away. He watched in amazement as Stark's blasters, tremendously reinforced by Thor's thunder, created a more than monumental explosion on Thanos' Gauntlet.

Maybe Loki was slightly afraid. Alright, he was definitely terrified. But also, quite proud of himself. The Titan's dumbfounded look, one second before being hit by Stark, had truly been an enjoyable sight. Pity that Loki did not have enough breath in his lungs to laugh.

 _Brother, you oaf, I hope one day you will learn how to properly fake a punch._

True, Thor did not hit him with all his strength, otherwise Loki would not even have needed the help of the six Infinity Stones to be reduced to ashes. But still.

And the best was yet to come. Indeed, not only did Thanos bite the dust under the impact, which already was a colossal achievement in itself, but when he furiously extended his left arm towards Stark...

Nothing happened.

No Infinity Stone was glowing on the in-the-worst-shape-than-ever Gauntlet. Loki felt a wave of thrill, as if his body was radiating with a new power.

It was starting to become possible. Surviving. Wining.

The god of Thunder immediately illustrated this thought, by punching the Titan with all the might he had. Which was actually not very much. Thor was exhausted. Mentally. And so was Loki. He shivered when he recalled his brother's dazed, emotionless blue eyes, ready to kill him, ready to kill anyone who-

 _Morgan._

Loki casted an anxious look around him. On what were, not so long ago, verdurous hills, he spotted the shapes of some of the Avengers; Banner, the Widow and Barton, still unconscious, were not far away, as well as Valkyrie, but Morgan was nowhere to be seen. The thrill of battle instantly vanished, making room for fear once again, but not for his own life, this time. Morgan killed by his own brother probably was the worst torture he could ever witness. If it was the case, if Thor had really...

No, not possible. Not conceivable. And Morgan had the Soul Stone with her, she could defend herself, she could...

"Tired already, Thunderer?" Thanos mocked.

Loki turned his head towards the Titan, who had managed to get up before Thor and Stark. Both had a knee on the ground, and were visibly short of breath. As powerful as the inventor's armour was, the person inside it was no more resistant than any other Midgardian. And even the god of Thunder's unnatural stamina could not repress the mental strain he had been subjected to.

The god of Mischief tried to get up, but his head suddenly started to spin, and he had to firmly press both his hands against the ground to maintain his balance. Small flashes of colour were surging before his eyes. Loki bitterly snickered. Out of the three of them, he definitely was the most busted up. This was so frustrating. He wanted to do more, to keep buzzing around the Titan's ears like an uncatchable hornet, whispering _you know what, every time you have an idea, not only do I ruin it but I find a better one_. At least, he could still give his brother a handful of seconds.

"I feel like it is rather your collection of lucky charms that needs a rest." He boldly scoffed at his enemy.

 _I really am inspired, today._

Thanos turned his gaze away from Thor and Stark, to stare at him with all the contempt, all the hate he could display. Loki gulped. Maybe not his brightest move, after all.

"Never short of words, aren't you, Liesmith?"

Thanos' face really was horrendous to stare at. He had indeed been injured by the common attack of Thor and Stark, yet his menacing aura was mostly coming from the fact that Loki could read with extreme accuracy the assortment of tortures he wanted to inflict on him.

It seemed quite logical. After all, and despite countless attempts, the Titan had still not managed to reduce him to a pulp.

"Oh no, he's not... And he'll never be!" Thor roared, rushing towards Thanos with Storm-breaker in his hand.

Thanos managed to block the assault, and closed his fist anew. This time, all the five Infinity Stones shone, but with a terribly dim glimmer, not enough to display any manifestation of power. Loki smirked. Their balance had indeed been disturbed by quantum energy. But that was not enough. It had to be downright broken. How to proceed?

Thor, his weapon surrounded by lightning, was summoning all the strength he had to drive Thanos into a corner. Loki winced when he noticed that, despite its nearly broken aspect, the Gauntlet could still be used to counter Storm-breaker. Uru metal was still uru metal.

"Do you think I fear you?!" Thanos roared "Attack!"

This order was destined to both Thor and the Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos closed his fist more ragefully than ever, and the Reality Stone started to glow. What followed was as hypnotizing as it was terrifying.

Blood, Thanos' own, purple blood, from the near loss of his arm, started to levitate around him, an unsettling spectacle which left both Loki and his brother speechless. Then, the fluid started to condense, to create the shape of...

The Titan grabbed what he had just forged. Indeed, forged. A gigantic, double sword, which blades looked equally, if not more, sharp as Storm-breaker edge.

To Loki, that was a good sign. Indeed, despite this new weapon's impressive look, its very presence indicated that Thanos could not afford to rely solely on his Gauntlet. But evidently, that was not a guarantee of victory at all.

In spite of its size, the Titan was extremely rapid. He attacked first, leaving Thor too busy blocking his blows to properly aim at the Gauntlet. Even with Stark's help, it was hard for him to gain the upper hand. The god of Thunder had been accustomed to the Titan's fighting style, and now that the latter had radically changed his method, it was taking him time for him to adapt. More than once, Thor very narrowly escaped the colossal blades, accumulating superficial, yet numerous wounds. Thanos' weapon was also resistant enough to withstand one of Stark's quantum blasters, then slicing his armour at extraordinary speed.

Thor could not refrain a panicked exclamation, as the inventor was propelled metres away from them, which was to say, almost on Loki, who kind of hoped he was not too demolished (Stark, not Thor, actually Thor as well, but not in that context... what was he saying, again?).

Getting slowly and painstakingly closer to the Midgardian, he noticed that his suit was rapidly re-forming itself, closing the large cut created by Thanos' sword. Interesting, to say the least. However, the man inside was not moving, or if he was, Loki had no way to find out.

"Stark, are you dead?"

"Inside only." The well-known voice immediately answered.

Not the time, not the place, and yet Loki had to fight this urge to laugh.

Stark opened his helmet, taking frenetic breaths.

"Hey, don't you have... any last-minute power-up... against this maniac?"

Funny but incredibly irritating. Reminding him of someone. Hm.

However, Loki had no time to reply, as his brother's scream resonated like an alarm in his ears. He briskly turned his head towards Thor, who was unable to stand up. Blood was trickling between his fingers, pressed on the right side of his chest. Loki felt like a gaping pit had opened under his feet. As if he had guessed his fear, Thanos turned to him.

"Look well. You will be the last to die."

Out of cruel irony, the Power Stone started to shine. Loki could not think about anything, as he was suddenly reliving the moment where the nightmare started, the attack on the Asgardian refugees' spaceship, and Thor's torture, and his own death, and the white, and the pain, and all of this would be for nothing because Thor was going to...

"Stop!" Two voices screamed, at the very same time.

Two voices. His own, and _hers_. Both full of rage and suffering, which shattered the Power Stone's energy that had started to appear around Thor's head.

Morgan looked like a wreck. Her head was covered with blood, her right wrist was twisted in an unnatural angle, her black and red outfit was torn in numerous places. She seemed, and certainly was, beaten up, weakened and scared. Nevertheless, as she was walking towards Thanos, eyes shining with a bright golden colour, she was more impressive than ever.

And she was not alone. Nebula was walking by her side, her sword in her hand. Next to them was Steve Rogers, armed with the glowing quantum shield, and the colonel Rhodes, with Rocket settled on his shoulders, more than eager to use his machine gun. Soon after came Romanov, Banner, Lang, Barton, and even Valkyrie.

Alright, alright. Morgan could get the epic entrance licence.

For a second only, her eyes met his, and despite their unnatural colour, Loki could read the same relief he was feeling. Only then did he realize that he was currently standing. Which meant that he was not done.

"Where have you hidden the Soul Stone?" Thanos inquired.

By now, Loki knew well enough the Titan's calm tone to foresee the latter's incoming fury. He did not especially care about receiving an answer. Presently, only the Avengers' demise mattered (Morgan's and his own would certainly include some refinements of savagery). No mercy, for anyone. Good enough, because no one was going to act mercifully against him either.

Morgan did not reply. Instead, she gave him a smile that Loki found as threatening as the best himself could bestow. He discovered the precise reason when he heard Thanos' exclamation of anger.

"The _hell_..." Stark mumbled, probably along with the rest of the Avengers.

The Titan's sword was imprisoned by dozens of various climbing pants, which were growing increasingly fast, intertwining around the edges.

"Pathetic!" Thanos spat, slicing the vegetation without any visible effort "What a waste of the power you have!"

"Ha! That's what you say!" Morgan exclaimed, as more and more vegetation grew to restraint the imposing weapon "But I do _not_ follow _your_ rules!"

Not any rule, as a matter of fact. Which was what made her so fascinating.

But Loki could go into ecstasies later. At the moment, he had a brother to save.

As Thanos was still busy with the creepers hindering his blade, some of them turning into bushes or even small trees, the god of Mischief casted an illusion of his brother further away from the place where he was still wincing with pain. The real Thor was only invisible to Thanos; thus, Loki did not even have to ask for Stark's intervention, with the inventor already carrying him at respectable distance from the Titan. Soon after, the latter closed his fist again and the Time Stone glimmered. All the plants still blocking his movements started to wither, then turned into a heap of dried twigs. However, as soon as he directed the Gauntlet towards the Avengers, creating a massive green circle under their feet, Morgan briskly spread her arms apart, and instantly destroyed the Time Stone's aura.

"You call that a waste of power?!" She groaned "This is life in any form! And the Stones are alive, just like you or me!"

So, _that_ was the Soul Stone. Ultimate control of any lifeform. Even the very sources of Power, Space, Time, Mind and Reality. Because, if what Morgan and Loki had read in Book of Cosmic Entities was true, if what they had thought about Whatever-its-name was real, all six Stones had once been one, and were somehow still connected. All of them shared the same soul, in a way.

"Very well, then." Thanos declared, solemnly hitting the ground with his sword "I will tear it off from you brain or your guts, wherever you hid it."

Loki had rarely felt such an intense wave of rage, so acute that his breath seemed made of fire. He did not even realize that he was not the only rushing towards Thanos, until he spotted Nebula, Stark and Rhodes, Rogers and Lang, Barton and Romanov, and Thor, by his side.

The battle was fierce. Blasters firing, bullets and arrows flying, swords and spears knocking together, and blood flowing from old and new wounds. Adrenaline was a wonderful thing. Loki knew that his body was suffering, and yet he did not feel it completely. In a way, he felt like a clone of himself, stuck between two realities, one made of pain and the other where the will to inflict it was prevailing. And suddenly, something struck him like thunder. Out of the corner of his eye, Loki saw his brother, swinging his axe despite the wound on his chest, which made him realize that he had come a very...

Very.

Verylong way.

" _We were raised together. We played together, we fought together! Do you remember none of that?!"_

 _I remember._

He remembered this shadow, this feeling of jealousy, this ever-lasting desire to be acclaimed and adored the way the heir to the throne was.

He remembered the fear, the horror of seeing blue skin, the decision to let go of everything, Asgard, the Bifrost, and his own life.

He remembered the confusion, the strings the Titan pulled without even him realizing, too busy letting his madness loose everywhere he could.

And he remembered the pain, Frigga, choking, the white, so much silence and suffering.

 _I remember we fought together._

Thor's thunder raging above them, Loki's illusions swirling around them, the Avengers fought. But their enemy was far from done. Thanos as well was empowered by the will to triumph. His sword hit with more and more violence, making Stark's armour and Roger's shield protest under the impact. And, as the Black Widow was attempting an especially risky parade, broke the spear she was holding into pieces.

The impact sent the woman metres away, knocking her out. Rhodes immediately covered her, with the racoon still standing on his shoulder, screaming out of rage whilst firing his gun. However, the Titan's next move was too rapid for them to avoid it. The colonel saw one of the machine guns fixed to his suit being sliced in two, whereas the blade cut Rocket's head.

Well, not exactly his head.

How ironical, in a way, Loki could not help thinking.

But maybe he could wait for the space racoon to engage in dark humour contests, because he had to admit, he was looking forward to seeing the result.

So, he might as well put him to safety in the meantime. And you know what, Romanov as well, the god of Mischief told himself, as Thanos was slicing across an umpteenth illusion he had just created.

Plus, Loki was well aware that his burst of energy would not last for ever. He had to take a step back and do what he was the best at, that was, to think about a better, more cunning, and as a bonus point, more unrealistic, strategy.

The Widow was still inanimate when Loki laid her down, close to the place where Banner and Morgan were standing. As for Rocket, he was only half-unconscious, muttering words Loki could not fully grasp, until he caught sight of him.

"You're that dude's _brother_?" Was his first sentence.

"Yes, and you're welcome." Loki sighed, properly flabbergasted by the animal's attitude right after having brushed past death. Probably not the first time for him. Which made it another common point.

"Also, gotta say, that snake thing: bitch move, but classy."

"Thanks." The god of Mischief grinned "I'm Loki, by the way. Or Nancy, if you prefer."

"Why Nan- Seriously?!"

That was it for Rocket. The blood loss had probably helped, but the fact was, he was now convulsing with laughter.

"What's with him?" Valkyrie asked, slowly staggering towards him, clutching her waist "Is losing an ear so funny?"

"You never know." Loki smirked.

" _You_ , get away from her!"

Barton had rushed towards them, unceremoniously pushing Loki away from Romanov. The Asgardian sighed. As if he had _any_ interest in harming anyone else than Thanos at the moment... However, the fury of the battle having a lot to do with it, the archer was fixing him with so much fury that Loki wondered if he was not actually about to bite him. But the man's attention quickly came back to the Widow, and he sighed out of relief when checking her pulse.

"Nat!" Banner exclaimed, with the same anxiety in his voice.

"She's not dead." Loki cut short, without even bothering to look at him.

Presently, all his thoughts were focused on _her_ , and no one else. They could all perish, for that matter, as long as she remained unscathed.

Morgan had not moved an inch. One knee on the ground, one hand slightly extended in front of her, she was keeping her gaze fixed on the fight still raging between Thanos and the other Avengers. This awareness was the only thing dissuading the Titan from using the Infinity Stones. One second of inattention would be enough for him to gain the upper hand again. Loki kneeled by her side, and delicately clasped her broken right hand.

"Later." She whispered "Don't waste your strength."

"I do not call that wasting." He smiled, before surrounding her arm with a familiar green light.

It took him longer than last time, but indeed, he still had some strength left. More than he previously imagined.

"Thank you." Morgan muttered "For saving me. And all these ungrateful pricks as well."

Loki smiled, but out of both relief and sadness. How bad he wished for everything to be over! He wanted to keep Morgan's hand in his for as long as he lived, never to drop her again, and to leave his other hand on Thor's shoulder, so he could really have fun if someone ever tried to just lift a finger against them. But at the moment, this was nothing but a naive dream.

"Saving?" He bitterly replied "No one has seen anything."

Morgan's newly healed hand squeezed his own.

"I don't need to see."

Alright. To Hell with Thanos. To Hell with the Avengers. To Hell with the entire Universe (Thor not included, because Thor was Thor, not the same thing). Morgan believed him, and that was enough.

"Loki?" She started "We got out of Whatever-its-name. We will get out of here."

"Indeed." He smiled "Whatever it takes."

* * *

Evidently, it was taking time and pain. Everyone's strength had a limit. Colonel Rhodes' suit, even Stark's one, were wearing numerous marks. Thor and Rogers were paler than ever.

"They can't win." Valkyrie panted "Not like this"

"Hey, didn't you say earlier than you can control all lifeforms, now?" Rocket asked, pressing a piece of clothing on the place where his left ear previously was "Can't you just, like, snap your finger and boom, Thanos is dead?"

"Sure, silly me!" Morgan sarcastically groaned, still focused on Thanos "No, I can't! He has the Stones, I can't kill them, I can't kill myself."

She had muttered those last words to herself. Loki frowned. Where was the Soul Stone, indeed? What had it done to her?

"We have to disturb both the Gauntlet inner and outer balance." She continued "The Soul Stone's power can weaken the others, but we need a double disruption."

"Like, an explosion both inside _and_ outside the Gauntlet?" Rocket dubiously winced "And how exactly do we do that?"

Slowly but surely, a smile appeared on Loki's face, as he was evaluating the abilities of every person around him. If this could work...

"Creepy face ahoy, this guy has an idea!" The all-too perceptive racoon announced.

"I don't even know if it will have any effect." Loki warned "We should-"

His sentence was cut short by his brother's muffled scream. When the Asgardian turned around, he saw that everyone, Thor, Stark, Rogers, Nebula, Lang and Rhodes, were unable to get up, and that Thanos, although covered with wounds, was the only one standing.

Loki felt an intense wave of dread when the Titan started to walk towards Morgan. He instinctively stood in front of her and summoned his dagger.

But he had no more blade to clasp. Thanos had destroyed all the weapons he had. Out of desperation, Loki grabbed the remaining two rings of the Vibranium knuckle-duster, not even knowing if it could still work. The Titan let a cynical laughter slip.

"You are pitiful to look at, small god."

"Then, I guess that made you look." Loki smirked.

His sentence was not intended as a signal, however, and for a reason the god of Mischief could not explain, two explosive arrows flied right at Thanos' face. The Titan roared, not deeply hurt but momentarily blinded. Valkyrie swung her sword at him but, weakened as she was, a single blow was enough to knock her down.

Thanos was only a few steps away. Morgan was standing alongside Loki, gently but firmly clenching his arm. He could feel her shivers. And she could very probably feel his.

Next, Barton and Romanov were brandishing their guns at the giant, despite knowing how futile it was. Loki had to acknowledge, giving up was not in their nature.

"If you insist, I can start with you." Thanos grinned at the two former agents.

"No, you won't."

Loki's breath stopped when he realized who that voice belonged to. Basically, the last person he expected to hear. Bruce Banner. And if that very calm and _very threatening_ tone was foreshadowing what Loki thought (hoped) it was, things were surely going to take a different turn. However, the Titan was visibly not concerned by this possibility.

"I wonder what makes you so sure of yourself, Doctor Banner. You have probably no memory of how our last encounter ended."

"You're sure you're angry enough?" Barton asked his partner.

"Bruce... Don't do this." Romanov panted, still short of breath.

"I have been far too lenient with you!" Thanos roared, raising his sword above his head.

With such a long weapon, he was well able to chop all their head at once. But Loki felt like the blow would never come. One look at Banner had been enough to know that the latter was going to take action, but not in the same way than he was used to.

As the blade started to approach, the scientist grabbed the Widow's wrist to push her aside, in a firm but controlled gesture. In the same movement he raised his right arm.

The second after, Banner was gone. At the same place was standing a green-skinned giant which, aberrantly enough, Loki was extremely relieved to see.

 _Who would have thought?_

But there was something different, this time. Because the Hulk had not thrown himself on Thanos right away. Instead, he had blocked the Titan's hand, the one holding the double-edged sword, in a way that made him uncapable of swinging it further. Then, his other hand intercepted Thanos' punch, and finally, before the now baffled Titan could react, he violently hit him right in the face with his own head.

As his opponent stumbled on the ground, dropping his weapon in the process, the Hulk turned toward Romanov and Barton, who were standing with their mouth gaping open;

"I am _not_ only angry." He articulated.

"Okay, now we've seen it all." Morgan summed up, equally amazed.

The Hulk did let Thanos any time to pick his weapon. The two giants engaged in a duel that Loki found radically different from the one that had taken place on the Asgardian spaceship. As bizarre as it may sound, the green beast was not a beast anymore. He seemed... alert. There was no roar of rage, no spectacular yet useless movements in the air to intimidate his opponent, as Loki had imagined when creating his illusion, earlier on. Instead, the Hulk was watchful of his adversary's way of fighting, and was adapting to it with an astonishing rapidity. Despite Thanos' evident martial arts superiority, he was swiftly avoiding or countering his attacks, with a face not marked by fury, but by focus.

If that was what the god of Mischief supposed it was, Banner's awareness combined with the Hulk's strength, Thanos was in serious trouble.

The more he witnessed them fight, the more he was starting to believe it. However, Loki's current priority was elsewhere.

"Brother!" He called, as Thor was trying to get up, gazing wide-eyes at the Hulk "Are you alright?"

Of course, he was _not_ alright, but the god of Thunder had a threshold of alright-ness far from common standards.

"Are you?" Was his brother's sole answer.

Loki only nodded, desperately repressing the urge to go to Whatever-its-name and hug his brother for as long as he could, mumbling I am sorry you know, but actually there was a reason for me not to see you before, put this axe down and let me explain, and by the way was this plan of mine not quite smart?

But he would not. Not yet. The white without Morgan was still _impossible_ to face, and she might be the centre of the world, but brotherly moments did not count.

"We have to end this." Rogers' voice interrupted.

 _Cap_ , as he apparently liked to be called, looked as worn out as everyone else around. The Vibranium shield seemed too heavy for him, and a long and deep slit was visible on his forehead. Plus, he was not completely wrong. The Hulk may have overcome an essential obstacle, but nothing indicated that he was going to win this fight. The battle between him and Thanos was making the earth vibrate under their feet. Intense but, most probably, short.

And yet, one second later, the Hulk only ranked second in Loki's personal ranking of the most surprising and unexpected events of the day.

Because Mr Righteous looked at him (Loki almost turned around to see who was standing behind him) and literally asked _this_ ;

"Anything in mind? Because if you have a suggestion, we might want to hear it."

For a split of a second, Loki daydreamed of conjuring his royal attire, obviously including his green cape and his golden helmet, claiming that _finally_ , these mortals had taken so long but had seen the light and acknowledged how indispensable he was to any hope of victory.

Oh, well. Could still work later.

So, he turned to Stark.

"Can your blasters function independently from the rest of your armour?" He inquired.

"Only once, but... What's your idea, basically?" The inventor replied, evidently confused.

But Loki did not take the time to explain further, as there was obviously not much time. Behind him, Morgan was still focused on Thanos' eventual use of the Gauntlet, and the sounds of the colossal duel were not reassuring at all.

"And you, the Ant, you do have your size-reducing gadgets with you, haven't you?" Loki directly asked Lang, ignoring the latter's offended face at the mention of his nickname.

"Pym's disks, yeah... Okay, what are you talking about?"

"Hey, in case you didn't know, no one's in your head and no one wants to be!" Stark suddenly shouted, noticeably at his wits end "So just stop embroidering!"

Loki sighed. They had to make up their mind, did they want his help or not?

"Fine." He hissed "Your quantum blaster."

Then turning to the Ant.

"His reducing disk."

Next, pointing Barton out.

"On his arrow."

And finally, indicating Thanos.

"At his Gauntlet. _Boom_." He felt compelled to add, just in case he had not been explicit enough.

An equivocal silence followed.

"It's so insane it might work." Stark observed.

"Can you take him from there?" Rogers asked the archer, after a look at the highest hill of the area.

"Can you even ask me that?" Barton snickered.

"I'm not talking about the distance." The Soldier clarified "But if Thanos is aware of your absence, he will probably guess our intention."

"No need for him to be aware." Loki intervened.

Following everyone's interrogating looks, the god of Mischief theatrically extended his arm towards Barton, who winced with wariness. However, his look rapidly turned into amazement, as his body briefly shimmered with green, and a perfectly resembling projection detached itself from it, to face him as his exact reflection. As for the archer himself, his appearance had become much more difficult to focus on. He was not invisible, in the proper sense of the term, but one would have said that he was rather indiscernible, as if he had found himself surrounded by fog or rain.

"This should be enough for the time being." The god of Mischief grinned.

"Impressive..." Romanov observed.

Loki instantly detected Barton's annoyed look, upon hearing the Widow's praise, as well as the latter's sudden regret of having said it out loud. He mentally took note of this moment and folded it carefully into the satisfying portion of his memory.

"How long can you maintain that?" Rogers inquired.

"Long enough. But it will require me great concentration." Loki reluctantly admitted.

"We will keep him occupied." The Soldier assured.

Suddenly, the Hulk's exclamation of pain made them all startle. Thanos had managed to retrieve his sword, and the giant was holding his injured left arm, his face tightened by anger.

They would be well advised to do so. Immediately.

* * *

 **Whatever-its-name. Whatever it takes. I just** _ **couldn't**_ **resist.**

 **And I was very positively surprised to see Thanos' weapon in the trailer, as I had already written this chapter ^^**

 **By the way, I don't pretend to be canon, so I really wonder if you will still be interested in reading this story after Endgame comes out. I mean, sincerely, if you are not, please tell me, it would save me a great deal of time, because I indeed write for myself, but still, formatting the chapters takes a lot of time. I definitely won't take it the wrong way! It would truly help me to know that I am not publishing for nothing. That being said, I hope you liked this chapter.**

 **Answer to Whatever-its-Soy: Thank you very much for your review! I hope all those fight scenes made you as nutty as ever. As for Scarlet Witch, well, I do think she would have a mental breakdown. She had to kill Vision and watch him die again, knowing that half of the Universe would perish. I mean, if that doesn't break you, I don't know what would. So yes, she seems OOC because she has never been pictured so desperate (yet) but I think this is the logical course of events. Thanks again!**


	45. Not completely dead

**Warning: graphic scenes everywhere. Really. Although everything is in the title.**

* * *

How much time had passed, Loki wondered, since all of them had arrived on the Scarecrow planet? A couple of hours, perhaps. And yet, it felt like weeks, months, even years.

But the Asgardian did not have the luxury to think about it further. What was at stake was to maintain Barton's illusion to give him, the real Barton of course, enough time to shoot an arrow, on which Lang had installed one of Stark's quantum blasters, right at Thanos' Gauntlet. Ordinarily, Loki would have expressed some doubts about anyone's ability to reach such a difficult target. But the memory of the dart which the archer had managed to shoot at him, flying on a Chitauri jet, as a side-note, and which had exploded right at his face the second after, had made him swallow any objection he could have thought about.

Presently, the fake Hawkeye, alright, the fake _Ronin_ , since it seemed to be so important to him, was standing a few feet away from Morgan, Rocket, the Widow and him, and was once in a while shooting arrows that very narrowly missed their target. What a shame.

A violent clash was taking place between Thanos and the rest of the Avengers, who frequently alternated to allow the others to get their breath back. Absolutely no one was _not_ hurt, from Thor and Valkyrie to Stark and Rogers. Only Nebula seemed unaffected by physical strain. Her gaze was distant. Unaffected by reality. Just a few seconds of the Power Stone's torture had created torments beyond Loki's greatest nightmares, which would probably haunt him for long, but the state Thanos had put Nebula into, this ultimate agony she had been forced to live, was impossible to conceive. And for that, it was not pity that the god of Mischief was feeling towards the cyborg woman. It was pure admiration.

"How does it _feel_?!" Nebula was screaming at the creature who called himself her father, without stopping her attacks "Now that your precious stones are _useless_!"

Her exclamations seemed to frustrate the Titan even further, which he illustrated by closing his fist and making the Space Stone shine.

Literally for one second and a half. Thanos gave a furious look at Morgan, who was still on the lookout and was enjoying every second of it.

"Failed." She grinned "Try again."

Morgan should wear a cape as well, Loki decided. She had a lot of qualities, but she was not demonstrative enough. When enjoying herself, she needed to claim it out loud, to be heard, and seen.

Once in a while, that kind of behaviour could lead to a broken nose, but she was fast, so, good enough.

The sound of Rogers' shield at Thanos' face (yes, now there was a proper sound for that), followed the latter's unsuccessful attempt at using the Gauntlet. The Soldier coordinated his moves with Nebula's attacks, but his exhaustion was visible. Thanos' assaults were restless, and the Titan managed to make him lose not only his balance but also his shield, which he used to knock Nebula down.

The double-sword in his right hand, the quantum shield in his left, the Titan reverted his attention back to Morgan. For a moment, Loki wondered what was going on in his head, then, when he saw him initiating his movement, the only thing he had the time to do was to protect Morgan with his own body.

The shock was brutal, but not painful. Loki had taken the edge of the shield in the back, between his shoulders, which left a very disagreeable sensation, but nothing more. He had wrapped himself around Morgan, making both of them lose their balance. Her right arm had been slightly hit by the shield, however, would she have taken it with all the momentum of the Titan's gesture, she would have been dead on the spot. Nevertheless, she did not seem well. Actually, she seemed extremely unwell.

"Agh... 't hurts..." She moaned, clenching her... heart?

Loki was confused. When had she been harmed in the chest? Could such a small strike impact her so much?

His gaze was naturally attracted by the glimmering quantum shield. Instantly, Shuri's words resonated in his mind.

" _Quantum energy disturbs Infinity Stones' energy."_

Realization. Morgan wincing with pain in his arms. Thanos displaying a truly victorious smile.

And, of course, due to Loki's total lack of focus, Barton's illusion slowly vanishing.

"Congratulations, little rats." The Titan sneered "Always ruining everything."

Evidently, Barton could not have guessed that Thanos had regained full control over the Gauntlet, hence the arrow Loki saw stopping barely a meter away from its target.

Bitterness was burning so intensely in the back of his throat that Loki could not even say a word. He would not even have any time to do so, as the Space Stone directed the explosive arrow right at those rushing towards its wielder, namely Thor, Stark and the Hulk. This time, the bright light made Loki close his eyes, but he clearly heard the formidable detonation, as well as the trio hitting the ground.

"No, _no_!" Rocket fulminated against Thanos "How did he...? And what's the matter with her? Is she...?"

"No." Loki cut him, carefully laying Morgan down, as she was trying to calm her hasty breath "Can you take care of her?"

"Why, what are you gonna do?" The racoon inquired, with maybe a hint of apprehension in his voice.

"What I do best." Loki hissed.

He was so _fed up_ of that. Fed up of seeing the Titan resisting every single one of their attacks. It did not matter how, but at the moment, Loki's greatest desire was to ruin his day.

"The archer..." Thanos grinned, glancing at the hill on his left "Whose eye is as sharp as a hawk's... But can you fly as well?"

As soon as the Power Stone shone, all the rocks under Barton's feet turned to mere pebbles, opening the door to a dreadfully long fall.

"Clint!" Romanov screamed, at the sight of her friend falling towards the ground, whom neither Thor nor Stark could catch at the present moment.

However, it turned out that he was caught up. By something the audience surely found quite unusual.

* * *

"That's it, I'm dead." Barton thought out-loud.

"No, but stay still, otherwise you might be." Loki warned.

Maintaining the man's shoulders between his talons as a giant eagle (and, in addition, trying not to rip his arms apart) was much more difficult than he expected. Flying while carrying him was absolutely out of question, but he could at least slow down his fall.

"You are hard to kill, I must give you that." Thanos scoffed, addressing both Ronin and the god of Mischief.

Loki immediately dodged a blast of purple energy created by the Power Stone, which heat burnt the tips of his feathers. That was close. His abrupt move almost made him drop Barton, who could not refrain an exclamation of surprise. They landed roughly but safely, at fair distance from the other Avengers. The archer gave him an incredulous look, as he was taking back his Asgardian aspect, breathing rapidly. Loki was on the verge of collapsing. Facing Thanos once again would surely...

"Watch out!" Barton exclaimed.

Loki did not have the time to process the sentence. He took the powerful blow right in the head and was sent a few feet away. Dots of colour shone before his eyes. Pain was bursting in his skull like a firework.

"Small god... How annoying you can be..." Thanos sighed.

He neglectingly sent another purple blast towards Barton, who fell on the ground as well, unconscious. Loki's head was spinning but he managed to stand up, not exactly knowing how or when. Thanos was right in front of him, smiling. He delivered him a second colossal punch, this time in the chest. Loki literally heard the cracks of his ribs, and soon after blood and bile filled his mouth. He rested his head on the ground, gasping for air.

"It appears you have to face me on your own again."

Loki shivered. He casted an illusion of himself crawling into the opposite direction, but the Titan's hand briskly grabbed him by his hair.

"I am going to enjoy tearing your limbs apart..." He smirked.

The god of Mischief smiled and spat the blood he had in his mouth right at his face. He knew he was going to pay for that, but that made him feel better nonetheless. Thanos smashed him on the ground, as if he was just a puppet. Compared to him, the Hulk was the incarnation of sweetness, the Asgardian sarcastically thought.

Then came the blows. On his face and chest, mostly. Punches, kicks, how could he know? No more strength. No more thoughts. Just pain. The blood trickling from his forehead was blinding him. He could not flee, even less try to fight back. The only thing he could do was trying to hold onto his breath, which already was an impossible task. Suddenly, the hits stopped, and Loki knew that it was everything but good news.

"Most of all, I want to get this smile off your face, once and for all."

Curled on the ground, Loki only saw a vague red light. He barely had the time to wonder what the Reality Stone was doing that he felt a sharp burn all around his mouth.

"Mmmmgh!" He could only scream, squirming with pain.

Blood was flowing down his chin, dripping on the ground. Loki suddenly realized what was going on.

His lips were _sewn_.

A solid thread had pierced his skin to stitch his mouth shut. This scared him more than anything else. Having his body gradually destroyed under the Titan's punches was far more preferable than...

Oh, he could not even formulate it. It was disgusting. It was excruciating. It was terrifying.

"Now you are scared. Powerless. Begging for mercy, if you could actually beg." Thanos declared.

He raised his fist and Loki was welcoming another hit on the head, but instead, the giant was the one to get punched.

Thor had delivered a massive blow, not enough to make him stumble, but at least his smile was gone. The god of Thunder raised his axe and an enormous lightning blast hit the Titan. The impact was so strong that Thanos was nowhere to be seen, hidden by a massive amount of smoke.

"Nice once, Point Break."

Loki weakly opened his eyes to distinguish Stark, Romanov and the Soldier joining the fight. Stark opened his helmet, to cast a severe look at him, still laying on the ground. He could not stand on his legs, not even on his knees.

"At least, this purple guy's only good deed was to shut you up. I'm actually grateful for that." Iron Man scoffed.

Humiliation made him shiver even more violently. Warm blood was still running all over his face and neck. He must look so pathetic...

"Stay where you are and do not intervene." Rogers coldly ordered.

"It should not be too hard for him." Black Widow added.

The three of them were giving him the same look they would have given to a pile of trash. They seemed disappointed not to have arrived after his painful death at the hands of Thanos.

"They are right, brother. You do not stand a chance. Go hide, as usual." Thor announced, emerging from the smoke.

Loki looked at his brother with incomprehension. _Go hide, as usual?_ No, until now, he had not been hiding. He had fought! He had tricked the mad Titan more than once!

But no one had seen any of that.

And his lips were sewn.

Too much. This was too much. Tears blurred his sight. Such a despising tone coming from his brother was too much to bear. He had given everything, but it was not enough. It would never be enough.

Loki gathered all the strength he had left and tried to get up. He managed to stand for half a second before stumbling again, in the ground already stained by his blood.

"Brother, you are embarrassing yourself." Thor sighed, turning his head away from him.

So, that was how it went? Loki was Thor's brother. Thor's little, pathetic, shameful brother. The weak one. The laughable one.

He could not say anything.

But suddenly, as Thor was about to say something else, he took a very recognizable arrow in his chest. Loki barely had the time to blink than three other arrows reached their targets, respectively Stark, Rogers and Romanov.

"Frankly, these are the worst imitations I have ever seen."

The Asgardian's incredulous gaze turned towards Clint Barton, while the four Avengers' bodies turned to dust, revealing Thanos and the shining Reality Stone. The thread on Loki's skin miraculously disappeared as well.

"You again, archer... Could you not just wait for me to finish killing him?"

Loki was taking deep and rapid breaths. He frantically checked for any trace of the repulsing thread. His lips were cut and covered in blood but the stitches had vanished. He could not stop trembling. Fakes. Only fakes.

"I would like to finish killing you first." Barton said, on the same provocative tone.

"Do you honestly believe that you have a chance to destroy me?" The Titan sneered.

"Nah, but I have a chance to distract you right before he destroys you."

One second later, a raging green beast threw his fist right at Thanos' face.

Had Loki not had two thirds, with luck, of his ribs broken, he would have chuckled at the arrival of the Hulk.

"Hey, stand up!"

Whose voice was it? His ears were burning. He felt like his brother's hammer (or axe, whatever) was repeatedly hitting him on the head.

"Oh, come on!" The voice said again, on a much more frustrated tone.

Soon after, he felt a hand grabbing his arm and abruptly lifting him from the ground. When he opened his eyes, he was even more astonished to realize that the archer was the one supporting him.

To Loki's opinion, winning over Thanos on his own seemed more likely to happen than getting saved by Clint Barton.

* * *

"... Can't believe it... Seriously... Why do I even... You know what, screw it..."

Ironically, those meaningless fragments of sentences were helping Loki not to collapse completely. From what he understood, Barton was cursing his own stupidity not to let him die, or something like that. He could not be sure about anything, except the fact that he was half-dead. There was not one square-centimetre of his entire body that did not hurt. He was covered in blood and the fact that he was still able to move his legs from time to time was a miracle in itself.

The sounds of the fight between the purple and green giants were becoming more distant. The archer halted and laid him down.

"Disguised as a snake... Disguised as a... God. Damn. Snake." He was still mumbling.

Meanwhile, he tore off a piece of his jacket and roughly wrapped it around the deepest wound on Loki's head, to slow down the bleeding. The Asgardian was doing his best to keep both eyes open, which was difficult due to the blood all over his face. The archer seemed to notice and took a small flask from his belt, without stopping his muttering.

"You're insane... And I'm insane too, so fuck it."

He poured some water on his face, cleaning away the blood and dust. Absolute absence of pity in his gestures. He was simply repeating what he had probably done countless times for anyone wounded in battle. Every breath Loki was taking was excruciatingly painful but he managed to articulate two words.

"Thank... you."

He saw Barton clenching his fist.

"For what? For saving your ass right now? That was just a payback, nothing more. If you want to play thanks, thank you for the fly."

The archer's gaze was shining with fury.

"By the way, congrats, you're not the number one on my _to-hate_ list anymore. But it doesn't mean that I don't wish to take a baseball bat, wrap it with barb-wire and kiss you good night with it."

At least, that was straightforward.

"But I can't do that right now, since you're already almost dead, and I can't find any barb-wire here. So, no time for thanks. Rather time for healing yourself with some magic stuff and then use it to surround my arrows with acid that would melt Thanos' skin. Just suggesting."

A little smile appeared in the god of Mischief's face. Why not, after all. The only problem was... He did not really know, actually. Everything around him just appeared so confusing, so fuzzy. Sounds, images... Even pain was fading. Oh, _that one_ was nice. Loki felt increasingly sleepy. As if the world around him was... slowing... down...

Only then did he understand that it was not the world but his own heart which was slowing down.

 _I am dead. You know, Morgan, I-_

* * *

Sudden, blistering pain on his chest. Ow. He was definitely alive, no doubt about it. He mechanically gasped for air, wondering what torture Thanos was up to at the moment.

But nothing came. Rather, no other physical suffering added to the ones he was already feeling. Weird. Loki took rapid breaths, blinking repeatedly in an attempt to distinguish a little more than blurry shapes above him. At least, he managed to hear something.

"Told you to heal yourself, not to do a fucking cardiac arrest!"

Barton again? What did he just do?

As soon as Loki's vision started to adjust, he noticed something _stuck in his chest_?!

One of his arrows, he realized. So, had he changed his mind and finally decided to kill him? If that was the case, he was going about it the wrong way.

At the sight of his uncoordinated movements to withdraw the projectile, Barton sighed and pressed what had to be a switch on the top, which automatically released the pressure on his chest.

"Yeah, strangely, I didn't have any defibrillator at hand."

The arrow had not pierced his skin. So, as crazy as it might sound, Barton had some kind of electric darts, and had used one of them to restart his heart.

After two milliseconds of intense deliberation with himself, Loki agreed on never to mention that, to anyone.

Speaking was still a far too ambiguous task, but every inspiration he was taking tasted like blood. As the course of the previous events was slowly coming back to his mind, Loki suddenly became aware of the blazing sensation all around his mouth.

So, that was real. _Lips sewn shut_. He felt like his own brain could not even make sense of these words.

Creating this basic illusion felt like the hardest thing he could possibly do, yet he could not let anyone see these infamous marks. Regardless of the pain, his spell dissimulated the lacerations covering his lips. At least he hoped so. He was feeling so weak that he had no mean to check if such a simple action had actually worked.

"Clint! Are you... Oh, shit."

That was Scott Lang's voice, preceded by a heavy thud against the ground, probably one of the two iron suits. Regarding the _oh, shit_ , Loki was fairly certain that it had marked the surprise of seeing him in such a state. True, if he had been severely beaten up before, now he was downright massacred. There was not anything he could do, standing up was out of his reach, and let's not even think about fighting. Such a vulnerability was already mortifying enough, but the worst was, _it could always be worse._

He could always be left behind, he could always be further tortured, there was no end to this and there would never be-

"We have to move, now." Stark's friend, Rhodes, declared "Can you walk?"

"Ha." Was Loki's bitter answer.

"No kidding..." Barton sighed, before seizing his arm again, less abruptly than before, and maintaining him against his shoulders.

This time, Loki was not getting it. He had absolutely no strength left whatsoever, which meant that he could not be of help anymore. In short, he was nothing else but a burden. And yet Barton, not even anyone else than _Barton_ when he thought about it, was helping him? This made no sense at all, although Loki would certainly not note this out loud.

"We're running out of options." Rhodes continued "Doing the exact same thing with Tony's second blaster has no chance of success."

"I need an explosive device." Lang said "Quantum or not, don't care, anything I can carry with me. One of your arrows, maybe?"

"They're not like standard detonators, Scott." The archer warned "I've no time to teach you how to handle them."

Loki suddenly felt something else than pain. Actually, quite a pleasing sensation, knowing that, even half-demolished, he could leave everyone speechless.

"Perhaps _that_ … would do… the trick?" He whispered.

 _That_ was what had just appeared in his right hand. Som's weapon. Yes, the grenade. Which Lang, Rhodes and Barton were now fixing with a completely bewildered look.

"I... Yeah, I guess it will." Lang stammered "But..."

"No, just don't ask why." Barton suddenly cut.

Exactly, just don't ask why. God of Mischief for you.

"This one has a five-seconds delay." Rhodes informed "Don't tell me you're gonna..."

"As you said, we're running out of options." Lang affirmed, on a tone he tried to make casual but was rather sounding desperate.

The colonel could only agree. Lang immediately jumped on one of the rifles fixed to his suit, shrinking to the size of an insect at the same time. Then, War Machine, which by the way was quite a ridiculous nickname, to Loki's opinion, engaged his propulsors.

Down the hill on which they were standing (correction: from where Barton was standing, half-carrying, half-dragging Loki), they could witness the raging battle between Thanos, the Hulk, the Soldier, Stark and Thor, along with Valkyrie, Romanov, Nebula and Morgan. The Asgardian was too far away to see her face, but her posture indicated a constant fight between determination and exhaustion. He would have loved to say the same about himself, yet all his thoughts were focused on _don't scream out of pain, don't scream out of pain, don't pass out again, don't pass out again_. Every step Barton was taking reverberated on his body, and despite his efforts at not being too hasty, he was still getting down a slope, which was not the steadiest move of all. Loki could frequently hear the rubbing of his broken ribs against each other, as if the excruciatingly sharp waves of pain were not enough. Whatever dignity he could still maintain consisted in not begging him to stop, which, needless to say, was setting the bar quite low.

The distinctive sound of an armour landing on the ground, a little lighter than the War Machine suit, notified Loki that Stark had just arrived in front of them.

"Oh, shit." He said.

Loki did not even want to comment on that anymore.

"He's not completely dead, in case you wondered." Barton informed, on a sarcastic tone which made Loki want to strangle him, just a little "But Scott's gonna shrink into the Gauntlet and put an M67 grenade inside, and I swear this is true, which will leave you five seconds before firing your blaster."

"I don't even ask where he found a fucking grenade..." Stark sighed.

"Not completely dead." Loki managed to smirk.

"But we've only got one chance." Barton warned "And Thanos knows it's coming."

It was true. They really had nothing else to attempt. Everyone was reaching his or her limits, to sum it up, make or break.

"I know he knows." Stark coldly declared "And I know what to do."

He had his helmet off, and Loki could clearly see that his gaze was the one of a man ready to make a very painful and very foolish sacrifice. He did not know what exactly, but he knew that it was not going to be pretty. And, even more strangely, he did not really appreciate this premonition.

Stark's gaze met his, and he immediately closed his helmet, probably aware that Loki had somehow guessed his intention. The Asgardian vaguely heard what he transmitted to Rhodes through the communication device of his suit, before engaging his propulsors.

"Rhodey, let's get this over. Tell Scott that I'm ready."

The battle was still raging. Thanos' sword opened a large cut on the Hulk's head, but not deep enough to make the latter abandon the fight. Then, Loki caught notice of Rhodes flying towards Thanos and everything unravelled at unbelievable speed.

The colonel shot a series of small explosives at the Titan, with very probably the Ant clinging to one projectile.

 _Five._

Lang came back to his normal size, a few feet away from Thanos.

 _Four._

Rogers's shield countered one of Thanos' blades.

 _Three._

Thor's axe hit the second extremity of the Titan's sword, creating an opening.

 _Two._

Stark flew right at him, not engaging his quantum blaster from afar, as Loki would have expected, but directly raising his left arm to slam into Thanos' Gauntlet.

Loki's breath stopped. Stark was going to...

"What is he..." Barton whispered, suddenly realizing what was about to happen.

 _One._

The fists collided.

The grenade exploded.

The quantum blaster fired.

And hell broke loose.

* * *

Time had stopped. For what Clint Barton knew was only a heartbeat, during which he and basically everyone else around were propelled in the air, due to the intensity of the explosion, a very distinct sentence resonated in his head;

" _That's it."_

That was it, for the best or the worst. From that very moment on, that split of a second during which Clint could not feel the ground under his feet, nor make any difference between the sky and the earth, something had changed, and no one could go back.

Maybe they would all die. Maybe they would all live. Maybe they would all be trapped in a state of eternal pain. Whatever would happen, Clint would not care.

Nothing could be worse than _the ashes_.

Was there anything more painful than to kiss the woman you truly love, to suddenly find yourself trying to catch a heap of dust, barely managing to make your own brain work?

The taste of ashes on his lips would never leave him.

Was there really anything more painful than to frantically rush to your children's rooms, just to stumble upon (walk on, fucking _walk_ _on_ ) similar piles of soot?

Honestly, Clint did not care anymore. Killing Thanos? Sure, that would be nice. Then, what? Hm? Yeah, Clint thought so.

And what about Loki? Ha. Loki was _nothing_ compared to Thanos, absolutely nothing. If he could provide any way to wreck the Titan's schemes, which apparently, he was pretty good at, by all means, Clint would let him do so.

After that? Nothing. No more Hawkeye. No more Clint Barton. Just Ronin, that would be all.

Yet, when his back violently hurt the ground, making him instinctively retract his head to protect it from the impact, and when he started to see something else than dust all around him, no matter how painful it was to keep both eyes open, he received a very, _very_ sharp reminder that he still had something, some ones. And that he could not afford to lose them.

Red was the first colour he distinguished. Bright, dazzling red under the sunlight. Could almost have been hypnotizing, if it did not belong to...

Clint did not hear his own voice. The explosion had been so loud that he could still not perceive any sound around, which made him wonder whether he had screamed Tony's name out loud or if it had just resonated in his head.

Undeniably, and this had especially been true over the last couple of years, Tony Stark was a boisterous, self-centred and hypocritical jerk. But he was still Tony Stark, or rather, he was still Tony, and Clint was ready to forget all about this time spent on the run because of him, in order not to see such an amount of his blood anymore.

"Idiot..." He thought, with a lump in his throat "Fucking idiot."

Tony was on the ground, not moving a muscle. Clint could not blame him.

Anyone would definitely find it hard to move, with his left arm in shreds.

No left arm at all, actually.

The shockwave created by the deflagration had knocked everyone down. No exception. Clint had dropped Loki, and, quite frankly, did not take the luxury to look where he had landed. Not far away from him, he could see Steve, Thor and the Hulk, who was slowly becoming Bruce again. They were all severely messed up, but Tony was literally lying in a pool of his own blood.

His arm was gone, outright gone. Pulverized. Half of the Iron Man suit, mostly the part covering his upper body, had been destroyed as well, and could not reform as it had automatically been doing until then. There was not much left of his helmet either, and the face it was not protecting anymore was not giving any sign of life.

At this precise moment, Clint's only wish was for Tony Stark to remain a fucking _alive_ idiot.

He tried to stand up, failed, and only then did he realize that he had dropped his weapons. Where was his bow? His knives? Anything that could defend Tony against...

Thanos. Holy shit.

The Mad Titan had not been spared by the explosion either. Quite logical, since his Gauntlet had been its epicentre.

 _The Gauntlet?_

Clint looked around him, frenetically, almost dreading to believe it. And yet, it seemed very much real. All that was left of the Infinity Gauntlet were some little metal pieces here and there, one of them even reflecting the sunlight a few steps away from him.

 _And the..._

It took him time to discern the three little glows, in the mix of dust and blood, all within easy reach of Iron Man, still totally senseless.

"Ugh... Tony!" Clint called, relieved to hear his own voice again.

He clutched the earth under his hands, begging his body to give him enough energy for a handful of minutes, alright maybe a handful of seconds, just enough not to see his partner, no, his friend, why still that stupid distinction, bleeding to death before his eyes.

Tony did not react to his call. Someone else did, though. Not the someone Clint was wishing for.

" _Stark_..." The Titan's terribly infuriated voice resonated.

Clint's acute vision was starting to come back. He distinguished the massive humanoid form, not far away from Tony, slowly standing up. It seemed that Thanos still had both his arms, however the left one was in an extremely bad state. Covered with burns and lacerations, it had been spared demolition by its owner's natural resistance.

Thanos' face was bearing the marks of a rage Clint had never seen before, even throughout the agonizing battle they had all been through.

The archer surveyed the surroundings once again, hoping to spot standing figures among the Avengers as well. He was wasting his time. Right after Tony, Thor and Steve had been the closest to the impact between the Infinity Gauntlet and the quantum blaster. They were beginning to move a little, however, no one seemed able to face Thanos on time.

 _In that case._

That was probably the greatest effort he had ever required from his body, yet Clint found himself standing. He did not have the leisure to look for his bow, so he grabbed the knife that was fortunately still attached to his belt and ran, rather, reeled as fast he as could, towards the Titan.

Yes, he was perfectly aware that there was nothing more suicidal, thanks.

However, Thanos did not even seem to notice him. All his attention was focused on Tony. He had nearly arrived in front of him, and his madness was so extreme that he did not even looked at the glimmering jewels scattered at his feet.

"If I have one last deed in this Universe, it will be to smash your skull!" He roared, raising his left arm, covered with purple blood.

Two distinct feelings in Clint's mind at the moment. Relief. If Thanos wanted to finish him off, Tony was alive, still alive. And panic. Because he might not be alive for long.

 _Doesn't matter._

Clint Barton, impulsive until the end, that was probably what would be written on his tombstone, if there would still be someone to write on it.

There was Tony, for whom he was ready to die. And there was Laura. Cooper. Lila. Nathaniel. It did not matter which side Clint was choosing. He was not afraid.

It was probably that determination shining in his eyes that surprised the Titan, as he stood in front of him, making his gesture stop for barely a second.

And yet, this barely-a-second was enough. Enough for what, Clint could not tell exactly, because everything went too fast for him to proceed chronologically.

He saw the Stones shining. Three persons, he could not say who exactly, instantly surged next to them, one would even say _around_ them. Not only their eyes, but their entire body was surrounded by an unnatural aura. Yellow, green, purple.

 _Three Stones? Where are the...?_

Clint wondered if he really had to turn around to guess the identity of the people standing behind them. Wielding Space, Soul and Reality.

Exhaustion made him fall on his knees, next to Tony, gazing at Thanos.

"Alright." He sighed "Turn him to dust."

* * *

 **This chapter is the last I publish.**

 **Before Endgame.**

 **(Hey, I wouldn't be that sadistic. Definitely.)**

 **Okay, I really struggled with this chapter. I don't exactly know whether or not I'll have the time to publish the next one before Endgame but I hope you liked this one. Though I can hear some sharpening their torture instruments in the background. Feel like it's a good time for a run.**


	46. No reason to have a name

There it was. Unity. Purity. What she had expected for so long. They were finally all together, connected in their infinite power, without anything to hinder them.

There was the one which fed on minds. Not conscience, nor emotions, but intelligence and impulsions. The source of its power was Dream, what one most feared and loved.

There was the one which fed on time. Past, present and future. For as long as sentient species existed in the Universe, it had savoured their constant anxiety towards the ineluctable passing of time.

There was the one which fed on matter. The attraction of every single atom to one another. It was primal energy, the great pulse without which nothing would ever start, nor end.

There was the one which fed on emptiness. The void, or dark matter, as it was sometimes called. Very few could perceive its true form, which contained the essence of not one but an infinity of Universes.

There was the odd one, in many aspects. Always moving, with ever-changing hunger. Permanent motion was its staple. After all, space had no place to be still.

And of course, there was her. Their connection, their common conscience. She was Morgan, seeing through the Soul Stone's eyes, and not the Soul Stone, seeing through Morgan's eyes.

The five others were not Mind, Time, Power, Reality and Space anymore.

There was Wanda Maximov, the enhanced and the Scarlet Witch, whose powers could grow without limit.

There was Steven Strange, the doctor and mystical master, who could not be one without the other.

There was Peter Quill, son of a planet and guardian of a galaxy, but mostly the beating heart of a family.

There was Nebula, who had suffered, had been broken, had lost and had been lost, and yet had seen that there was more beyond the pain.

There was Loki. The trickster, the boundary-crosser, the door-opener.

 _By the way, I have to remember to tell him that I love him. Like, very much._

She could see him. She could see them all. Their eyes were glowing with the same colour than the Stones previously resting on the Gauntlet. Their bodies too. Just like her, the tremendous energy that was suddenly pulsing in their veins had made every sensation disappear, every kind of pain fade away. Morgan was not feeling tiredness in her limbs anymore, neither was she feeling any hate towards the being who yet had tortured her beyond reason. One single priority was resonating in every corner of her head.

 _He has to go._

There was no other option, no compromise. Thanos had to go. No avenging, only raw survival, was dictating this command.

Morgan raised her right hand towards him. Her gesture was immediately imitated by the five other wielders, all encircling the former master of the Infinity Stones. The look on his face was one of both deception and acceptance. He knew perfectly well that fighting back was out of his reach, now.

"So be it." Thanos spoke "But my legacy will prevail."

These words were the Titan's last. A blinding light, formed out of all six Infinity Stones colours, surged from their bearers' hands and surrounded him. For an instant, it seemed harmless. Then, the dust fell.

Did it have to come full circle? Morgan did not know. She could not take the time to ask. One moment, Thanos was there, the next, he was only ashes, carried away by the wind.

Judging by the last look on his face, he had not felt any pain. But payback had become a meaningless notion. Justice had no place here. The only fact that mattered was to get rid of the most immediate threat. And that had been done. Just like that.

 _Snap, am I right?_

Morgan braced herself, as she knew that the real ordeal was about to start. What did she say to Thanos, when facing him for the first time?

" _Destruction is much easier than creation."_

Exactly. Now, it was going to hurt.

"Let's bring them back!" She screamed, either out-loud, either only in her head, she could not really know, to the five others.

"Who?!" They all replied in unison, too confused by the insane amount of power they were feeling.

"The fallen. Let's bring their soul, mind and body into space, time and matter!" She replied.

And _there_ , it became unbearable.

Pure suffering. Torture was not a word strong enough to describe what she was getting through. Morgan felt like every cell forming her body was torn apart. She did not know whether or not she was screaming. Even using her voice seemed out of her reach. And if they were, she could not hear the others screaming either.

The white light surging before her eyes had made everyone invisible. The pain was gnawing every single one of Morgan's rational thoughts. Once, she knew that she had been human, that she had had a body. But even those basic evidences seemed hard to grasp, because of the pain, which was not even pain, it was, it was...

It was too much. It was worse than getting blinded. It was worse than theashes. It was _the worst_. The worst of existence, the worst of everything. There was no escape, because it was part of death as much as of life.

Even her, Morgan the Soul Stone, could not bear it. She was going...

To...

Be...

SHATTERED.

 _No! Not that! No shattering! No nothingness! I need... I need..._

Suddenly, below the countless layers of pain, a voice, a voice that had once been hers, if she remembered correctly, pointed something out.

 _Words are power. I said, you said, because you and I are one, that it was too much. Who exactly is it too much for?_

For her. It was too much for _her_. If she continued to force on herself that way, she was going to be shattered.

However, that did not mean that if _others_ did so...

"Help me." She begged, still not knowing if she had actually spoken, as she could not see nor hear.

But she knew that there was someone next to her. She remembered someone who had been tormented in an unspeakable way, and yet was still standing.

"I cannot do that alone. Help me with my suffering, I will help you with yours." She asked again.

So, she extended her hand towards the person on her left, and found a metallic hand, which she clasped as firmly as she could, releasing some of the suffering that threatened to destroy her, and welcoming some of hers.

It seemed to alleviate. Just a little, but she noticed the change. There was something, a tiny something but a something nonetheless, that she could deal with. But it was still not enough.

"Nebula." She called "Do the same. Please. Otherwise it will destroy you."

Gradually, she felt their power. She did not see them but she could feel them. Nebula, then Peter Quill, then Steven Strange, then Wanda Maximov.

And then Loki.

There was a lot of pain in him. A real, huge lot. All six of them had their huge lot, for sure. They were powerful, each in their own way, but they were not the most stable people in the Universe either.

It was still hurting beyond reason, but now, there seemed to be a way out of the pain. Their powers were stabilizing each other. Morgan the Soul Stone was asking the five others to make the fallen rise. And the five others were asking her the same thing.

But suddenly, one thought got in the way. One single thought paralyzed Morgan's entire existence, blocking her power, rendering everything meaningless.

 _What about Som?_

Indeed. One single being mattered more to her than the rest of the Universe.

 _Thanos said he was dead. Will all of that be for nothing? Will I never see him again?_

They shared no blood, but Morgan did not care. To her, he was more than a brother. He was a part of her.

Like a virus, this intrusive fear gradually creeped in some of the wielders' thoughts.

 _What about Gamora?_

 _What about Vision?_

Morgan felt like she was sinking, in what, she could not know, but...

"I will never leave you."

Wait, who just spoke?

A woman. A voice Morgan had never heard before. Weird. It was the first thing she had really _heard_ , since she started to share her power with the other wielders. And it was the first person she could clearly _see_.

The woman was standing in the midst of a kaleidoscopic mess, there was no other way to put it, similar to what she could perceive when she had her eyes closed. Morgan had never seen her before.

She was quite tall, had long, curly blond hair, arranged in a sophisticated, a bit old-fashioned yet very elegant way. Her dress was one of a kind as well. Blue clothes shielded by a silver armour. She seemed to be in the prime of life, but age was giving wisdom to her traits.

"Who are you?!" Morgan spoke, amazed to hear her own voice again.

The woman smiled at her.

"You can see me. Fascinating."

She looked both surprised and reassured. As for Morgan, she was not sensing any aggressivity, anyway, she was presently too vulnerable to resist any other attack. If the person she was facing was another upcoming threat, there was not much she could do to resist it.

"Death is not nothing. My son and you should know this better than anyone. And I feel like you still have a long journey ahead of you."

"Are you Frigga?!"

Her smile became wider, which confirmed Morgan's supposition.

"Sharp mind, indeed." The Queen of Asgard noted.

Why was Morgan doing that? Why was she destroying herself trying to bring the dusted back? Unlike Thanos, neither she, nor Quill, nor Strange, nor Maximov, nor Nebula, nor Loki, had any powerful motivation, any great plan to dictate to the rest of the Universe. What could compensate?

"Enough doubts!" Frigga suddenly told her "Now, make a decision: stop here or carry on. You always have a choice, but make it!"

Alright. She would take the risk. Perhaps she would never see Som again. But she was sure that, no matter what, she would remember him. He was a part of her, which could not be taken away.

"Come back." Morgan ordered Mind, Time, Power, Space and Reality.

The same command was given to her by the five others. Such an immense task. Reversing destruction. Turning ashes into life.

 _We are all stardust._

And then, the white.

* * *

She was alone. Gone was Frigga, gone were Loki and Nebula, gone was everyone else. Morgan breathed out. She knew that she had no tangible body, nevertheless she could almost feel physical relief, after getting out of such an intense pain.

"We were not supposed to come here."

Morgan turned around and saw him. Well, well, as a B movie villain would snigger, not as alone as I thought...

"Of course, it is you. I guess it had to be you, at some point." She observed.

"What am I sensing in you, now? Fear?" The Soul Stone teased.

"Do you really need an answer, _Dad_?" Morgan coldly replied.

Pierre Dumas' appearance was as strict as it had always been. Morgan could not help but being amazed of how accurate his image was, more than ten years after his death. Same formal suit. Same little glasses.

"So, if we were not supposed to come here, where should have we been instead?" She inquired.

"Likewise, do you really need an answer?" The Soul Stone retorted "You are powerful, too powerful to be my child and follow my commands, yet not powerful enough to stand as my equal. Who is the man whose appearance I bear?"

Morgan winced. So, the Soul Stone had expected her to come back to the Soul World, or something like that. However, she had found herself here. What was it supposed to mean? Where were the other wielders? Had they managed to bring everyone back? Had they failed? Right now, she was not able to answer any of those questions.

"I still wonder who he was." She carefully told "I never considered him as a father, neither as an equal. He scared me, and yet I scared him too. You are... just Pierre, the Stone. It suits you."

"Hm. You really cannot live without names, can you?"

"I suppose not." Morgan shrugged.

"How did you name this place?"

"Whatever-its-name."

Pierre Dumas took a long look around him, as if he was searching something Morgan was unable to see.

"I guess it is suitable. As none of us needs a name, we do not need a birthplace either."

"Where are the five others?" Morgan immediately reacted.

The only response she received was a sarcastic smile.

"In your opinion?"

She closed her fist. Could she punch him, the same way she had punched Vivian in the Soul World?

Maybe not yet. She still had some unfinished business.

"You killed my sister." Morgan hissed.

"Did I? Did I, truly?" Her father's image teased "Stop fooling yourself, you know perfectly well what I did. I gave you power. Pure, untameable power. But you _wielded_ it! You lived, at any cost!"

"Easy for you to say that! Every single child unconsciously screams for air!"

"Indeed. How fascinating, taking your sister's life and yet linking a part of her soul to yours. It makes sense. She is, was, your twin, after all."

"So, she was alive? I _did_ have a sister, then!" Morgan asserted.

Her speech was becoming more and more confusing. She was trying her best to prevent tears from running down her cheeks. Everything appeared so terrifying. She did not have the slightest certainty to rely on. Of course, her attitude did not go unnoticed by the Soul Stone.

"What is the point of trying to cling yourself to the dead?" Pierre questioned, tilting his head on the side "Your genitors are deceased, and so is your twin. She is not what you still call "Vivian". A heap of ashes has no reason to have a name."

"I _know_ that." Morgan mumbled "You will never fully understand me, neither will I fully understand you. And you know what? That's for the best!"

The Soul Stone frowned, which encouraged Morgan to continue.

"Humans are too complicated for you! They always tell stories to justify their actions! Stories allow everything: torture, genocide, friendship, compassion, every kind of atrocity and beauty you can ever imagine! On top of that, our lives are so short that we barely understand those stories before we die!"

"You speak the truth..." Pierre observed "Rather, what you suppose is the truth. You have grown, indeed. Had I managed to possess your body a decade earlier, when you were torn between so many conflicting emotions, things would have been entirely different."

"I have no doubt about it." Morgan acquiesced "You started it. Turning my mother crazy and giving me the instinct to feed on my sister's life. But I continued it. Keeping a part of Vivian's soul with me, to frame the sister I expected to have. And when she started to confront me with who I truly was, I killed her."

"Are you insinuating that, in a way, you killed yourself?"

"Sort of."

"What a shame, not to have been present on that day!" The Stone enthusiastically exclaimed "You would have welcomed me, of that I am sure. Can you imagine? You could have been the ruler of all life on your planet! There is a word for that, isn't it?"

"Yeah. God." Morgan shrugged "But the fact is, that did not happen. I am not interested in power for power's sake."

"Maybe not at the moment." Pierre admitted "But I see that there is a part of you that was, and will always be, hungry for power. Is not that feeling pleasant? Superiority, greatness? Dare telling me that you have not enjoyed it!"

"Would I ever lie to you?" She defied.

"You always lie, especially to yourself. Today, you may not be interested in power for power's sake, as you put it, but what of tomorrow?"

"I don't know. Maybe I will die tomorrow. Maybe I will be acclaimed as the Earth's saviour. Maybe I will turn into its destroyer within a few years. Throw the dice."

"What you describe as unpredictability is nothing more than ignorance." Pierre accused "There must be something you want. No being can exist without a craving to satisfy."

"You are right. I want a boat."

"A _what_?" The Soul Stone winced, not out of confusion but of irritation "Enough with your cryptic words! What would you _do_ with a boat? What is this _for_?"

"I would do what everyone does with a boat. Sail. To you, this means nothing. To me, this means power. I am Morgan the Sea-Born, after all."

The Soul Stone seemed about to add something else. However, all that Pierre did was to stare at his daughter. Morgan shivered a little, yet, contrary to what she had always done when facing her father, she did not look away.

 _At last._

"One day, I will destroy you. Or you will destroy me." The Stone finally declared "I will never forget you."

Likewise, Morgan did not reply immediately. She walked towards the image of her father, to take his hand in hers.

"I am a part of you, and you are a part of me." She acknowledged "But come to Earth again and I will indeed destroy you."

Pierre squeezed her hand, in a gesture that did not evoke any aggressivity. One might almost have called it affection.

"May the best stone win." He grinned.

Morgan opened her eyes. It was finally over.

What was over? Something, but she did not know what exactly. Maybe it was just this encounter with the Soul Stone that was over. Or maybe it was her life that was over. She could not be sure of anything. She could not even be sure that her body was still functioning. Whatever command her brain was sending to any of her limbs was not receiving any answer. During these few seconds of total blur, where even pain was struggling to be felt, Morgan made an assessment of the last couple of hours. She and Loki and the Avengers had been teleported on the Scarecrow planet. They had fought Thanos. She had shared the Soul Stone's power. The six Infinity Stones had turned their former master to dust. She was lying on the ground, unable to move, unable to feel, wondering if she could find a sailing boat on eBay at a reasonable price.

All of that, watching the landscape being torn apart.

 _Shit._

* * *

 **Yes, I made it! I really wanted to publish this chapter before watching Endgame (by the way, needless to say, no spoiler in the comments please).**

 **And indeed, Pierre means "stone" in French.**

 **I hope you liked this chapter, and even though you did not (especially if you did not), reviews would be awesome!**


	47. I need a drink

Was it a dream? Was it real? Thor Odinson could not know.

Everything around him was crumbling, turning to...

 _Dust._

Oh, so that was how it had to conclude... The Infinity Stones had probably wanted to end on a high note.

The god of Thunder suddenly felt no god at all. The only things he could grasp were pain, a lot of it, particularly in the right side of his torso, where the Titan's sword had wounded him, but mostly incomprehension. What had just unravelled before his eyes had left him speechless.

Tony Stark standing in front of Thanos. A blinding light, a deafening sound, a colossal shockwave. Not being able to stand up. Losing, again?

Opening his eyes. And not believing them.

Distinguishing six humanoid shapes, all encircling the Mad Titan, who was not in possession of the Gauntlet anymore. Each of them surrounded with a different glowing aura. First, the snake woman, who claimed to be named Morgan, with bright orange eyes. Next to her, Nebula the cyborg, enveloped in a fierce red energy. Also, the wizard of Midgard he had encountered in New-York, and the friend of the rabbit he had met in space, and the young Scarlet Witch. Most of all, Loki, eyes shining blue with a frightening intensity.

Seeing them raising their hand, and turning their enemy to ashes in a flash.

Witnessing a proper flash, a moment later, an enormous ray of light encompassing the six of them, forcing him to look away, if he was still able to look at anything.

Too confusing. Too rapid. Too powerful. In comparison, the neutron star fuelling the forge of Nidavellir looked like a mere candlelight.

Next, the entire planet falling apart.

No exaggeration there. What had been a beautiful, springtime scenery, was now becoming a heap of decaying rocks. There was no more grass under his feet, only a bare, arid land. But that had no importance at all for the god of Thunder.

His brother was the only thing he had chosen to focus on.

Not listening to his protesting body, Thor rushed towards him, stumbling more than kneeling by his side. Loki was lying on the ground, unmoving. Same thing for Wanda, Quill, Nebula, the wizard whose name Thor still could not remember, and Morgan, a few feet away from him.

In a panic-stricken gesture, the king of Asgard grabbed his brother's shoulder, hoping for him to open his eyes. Not only did Loki remain unconscious, but what Thor felt under his hand was the movement of bones that should normally not be felt at this place.

A cold shiver ran down the god of Thunder's spine, as he suddenly realized how injured his brother was. His raven hair was drenched in his own blood. The small piece of clothing roughly tied around his head seemed ludicrous to contain the haemorrhage, which was not-

No pulse.

Thor's heart stopped, literally or figuratively, probably both.

He was not feeling any pulse.

Loki was not breathing.

 _Come on. This HAS to be a joke. Come on, Loki, cease this idiotic farce._

Nothing but some fluttering dust remained of Thanos. Thor could not care less. The landscape around him was slowly going to pieces but that did not matter.

 _This cannot be happening_ , Thor's hysterical mind was screaming, _Loki can't truly be dead and not dead and dead again and..._

"Brother, please..." He heard himself begging.

Suddenly, a faint glimmer caught his attention. When he lowered his eyes, Thor noticed something in Loki's right hand.

The Space Stone.

Its light was very dim. Was that it, the god of Thunder wondered, was the jewel draining his brother's life?

As he advanced his hand towards it, firmly determined to take it away, Infinity Stone or not, the latter started to emit a much brighter gleam, then vanished right before the Asgardian could reach it.

Thor's gaze remained stupidly fixed on Loki's now empty hand, which had been containing one of the most powerful artefacts in the Universe. When he managed to turn his head, he just had enough time to see the Mind Stone in Wanda's hand disappear in the exact same fashion.

Where had the Infinity Stones gone? How could they all-

Pulse.

 _By the Nine Realms._

He did even have to call his brother's name a second time, as the latter took a brisk inspiration. Thor maintained his body in order for it not to break further under the brutality of this gasp. For a few seconds, Loki did nothing else than frantically breathe. At first, his green eyes kept on flickering, revealing a state of disorientation Thor could very easily understand. Then, they started to stabilize a little. And immediately opened wide in astonishment.

The god of Thunder had no time to ask him what was going on, as he realized, due to a rapidly growing shadow on his brother's face, that a rain of rocks was falling right on them.

When Thor turned around, too many thoughts battled in his mind to react accordingly. _Wounded. Exhausted. Loki in his arms._ This made him feel like a scared child again, briefly reminding him the very first time he was taught how to fight; surrounded by all kinds of attacks, absolutely zero hint of what to do.

It was supposed to be over...

A moving shadow surged in front of him. It was not human at all, more like a gigantic heap of branches that grew, and grew, forming a vast dome that protected not only him, but also the five other inert persons around him, from this deluge of rubbles. Still firmly holding Loki, he took several long seconds to realize what had just happened. The god of Thunder was now under a roof of robust vegetation, which was regularly hit by some new projectiles. It was only when the inimitable voice resonated that Thor was forced to believe his intuition.

"I am Groot!"

"Tree!" He exclaimed out of relief, fighting the urge to laugh as the teenage plant had greeted him with the nickname _pirate angel_.

At the moment, Tree's face was marked by intense concentration, as the protection he had created was surely taking a tremendous effort to maintain. Starting from his arms, it had become a vast umbrella made of twigs and leaves, blossoming above their heads.

"I'm Groot!" He shouted again, on a much more panicked tone and a telling glance on his right.

Thor took notice of Rocket, whose head was covered in blood, due to his missing left ear. He was struggling to get up, and could be hit any moment. Not far away from him was Valkyrie, wincing with pain as well. Suddenly, a much more massive form grabbed them both, rather, unceremoniously threw them on his shoulders, ignoring their weak protests, and quickly brought them to safety.

"Drax! Groot!" The rabbit choked, tears surging in his eyes, after the grey-skinned bald guy put him down.

"What happened here?! Where's Thanos?!" Drax exclaimed "Quill! Quill, you're still alive?"

He rushed towards his captain (Thor did not really know, every single member of this bizarre team seemed to be a kind of captain at some point), whereas Valkyrie was slowly coming closer to him.

"What... was... that..." She panted, the _that_ probably meaning everything that had just happened, from Loki brandishing the Space Stone to Thanos turning to dust, actually, pretty much everything that had happened over the last couple of hours. Thor had lost track.

Adequately illustrating the god of Thunder's state of mind, the earth started to emit a very worrying sound. Soon after, a gigantic crack appeared on the ground, making everyone stumble, including Groot, which lowered greatly the protective tree he had created.

"We have to get out of here! The whole planet is collapsing!" Another female voice warned.

It belonged to the funny-looking lady with shining antennas, also a member of the Custodians of the Galaxy (was it the right name?), who was running to join her comrades, alongside Scott, Natasha and Bruce. All three seemed on the verge of collapsing, and the Midgardian scientist was applying pressure on his bloodied left arm. He stopped in front of Thor, mouth gaping open in shock. At first, the Asgardian thought that it was due to the sight of Loki's injuries, but he quickly realized that Bruce was staring at something behind him.

"Oh god..." He muttered "Tony..."

Thor had to admit, when he turned around, he felt like struck by thunder. If there was someone closer to death than his brother, it was Tony Stark, whose left arm had been crushed by the violence of the explosion he had provoked. He was unresponsive, but around him were standing Clint and James Rhodes, as well as Steve Rogers. They had tied a makeshift tourniquet to slow down the bleeding, and the Captain was maintaining him on his shoulders. However, an even bigger earthquake made them all lose their balance again, and no one could stand up to avoid an umpteenth avalanche of stones.

But, for once, help came on time.

Although Thor had briefly seen the man nicknamed the Falcon, whose metallic wings were resistant enough to cover Barton, he had no idea who the one with long brown hair was, but one thing was sure, he was protecting Steve by brandishing the quantum shield.

And the last person arriving was also the last Thor expected. He was really young, but that was not what surprised the god of Thunder. It was rather the fact that he was strong enough to stop a boulder twice his size with no visible effort, then shoot some weird strings out of his hands to throw the remaining rocks further away.

"Mr Stark!" He gasped "What... How..."

"Not now, kid." Steve Rogers cut, hastily getting back on his feet.

"I don't know what's going on, but we shouldn't hang around." The Falcon added.

"I am... Groot..."

"I know, I know, just hold on a little longer, okay?" Rocket encouraged his friend, as everyone was gathering under the protective canopy to escape the decaying planet.

Suddenly, Thor felt a very feeble pressure on his forearm. He lowered his gaze.

"Brother..." Loki whispered "Let's go."

Thor smiled. The nightmare was over. Now, he had to get a grip on himself and wake up.

Still carefully holding Loki with one arm, he extended the other to summon Storm-breaker. When he seized the familiar wooden handle, the latter crackled with lightning.

 _Let's wake up._ _Let's go._

When assured that everyone had gathered around him, Thor stood up and raised his axe towards the sky, surrounding them all with the bright colours of the Bifrost.

* * *

Shouts of pain. But also, shouts of joy. Thor had more and more trouble realizing what was happening around him.

He had brought them back on the heliport of Wakanda, at the exact place where everything had started, with Thanos suddenly surging in front of them, to open a portal to this mysterious planet, which probably was nothing but ashes by now.

Storm-breaker suddenly seemed very heavy. Thor lowered his arm and let it hit the ground. He noticed that his hands were stained by blood. His own and Loki's.

His brother had fallen back into unconsciousness, but was still breathing.

"Help! We need help over there!" Captain America shouted to anyone who would listen.

Both him and the boy were maintaining Stark, whose face was terrifyingly pale. Half of the people around was as unresponsive as him or Loki, from Nebula and Quill, who were taken care of by Rocket, Groot, Drax and Shining-Antennas, to Wanda, maintained by Clint.

" _Tony!_ " An alarmed feminine voice called.

The Asgardian had seen her before, episodically, but he had mostly heard about her. Pepper was her name, if he remembered correctly. She ran towards the Midgardian engineer, choking out of both relief and fright. Her hands were shaking, but she did not hesitate before gently clasping his head.

"Stay with me, Tony, okay?" She mumbled, tears rolling down her cheeks.

They were now surrounded by people Thor did not know. He caught sight of the young Shuri, and next to her what was most probably her older brother, T'Challa, the rightful king of Wakanda. Both had gone through every stage of the emotional spectrum, yet they did not lose time before calling for medical assistance.

Everything was fuzzy. Everyone as well. Basically, a general mental breakdown was taking place. Thor witnessed Scott, his back shaking with uncontrolled sobs, hugging a little girl as if she was about to disappear again. Next to him were standing a woman his age, as well as an older couple, all bewildered to find themselves in this place. Further away, Clint was in the same situation, surrounded by his children, who had of course grown up since Thor last saw them, and numbered three instead of two. He was convulsively embracing them, afraid to have them taken away a second time.

In short...

"We won." Thor painstakingly articulated, as if pronouncing those words was going to prove him wrong.

He took another look at Loki.

"You won." He corrected, realizing only seconds later that he was crying, and could not care less about it "You won, brother."

"You're damn right."

That voice was completely unknown to Thor's ears. When he turned to his left, he saw a man with light brown skin, almost as tall as Loki, a feeble smile on his lips. His pale blue eyes were full of the same intense panic and relief the god of Thunder was feeling at the moment.

The man kneeled in front of the raven-haired woman, Morgan. She was lying on her back, immobile, but as soon as he grabbed her hand, her eyes opened. Before Thor could even process it, she had thrown herself in his arms. Rather, fallen, as her legs were not able to support her. Both lost their balance, stumbling on the ground, but none of them seemed to care. Morgan was clinging to him with all her might. From the look of her face, she wanted to talk, but words would not come out of her mouth. The only thing she could do was to let her tears run. He was holding onto her in the same fashion, eyes closed, not trying to refrain his sobs either.

Very well. To Hell with the why. To Hell with the how. They had won. Loki had won.

Loki was alive.

That was it for Thor. He had no more strength to hug him, which was probably for the best due to the gravity of his injuries, but that was the moment he decided that he would not, and could not, care about anyone else than his brother. Tears blurred his already hazy sight.

For how long did he stay like this, hunched, crying out of happiness and tiredness with Loki in his arms?

Time was the last thing he wanted to pay attention to.

Then, his attention was caught by the presence of what surely were teams of Midgardian healers, giving priority to Stark, but progressively coming towards everyone else on the heliport.

Thor looked at Bruce Banner, who was already being taken care of, but was still conscious. His friend looked at him as well, saying something he did not hear. Then, Thor looked at his hand.

Norns, it was really _covered_ in red.

He had to admit; he had lost a lot of blood.

Maybe he could collapse, now.

* * *

The doctors could say whatever they wanted; Thor would not listen. Alright, maybe he would actually listen, in a polite manner, absent-mindedly shaking his head from time to time, in a very poor imitation of approval. He would listen to them detailing the seriousness of his brother's wounds (apparently, only five of his ribs were not broken), emphasizing as much as they could that no normal human being would have survived. He would also listen to them concluding on the fact that Loki would not wake up before days, so maybe Thor could rather spend this time taking care of the Asgardians, whose number had suddenly doubled, and whom Wakandan authorities had absolutely no time to-

Sure, Thor would listen to all of that. But he would not move. And he had made it clear that whoever would attempt anything to move him against his will would be assured to end up in a state quite close to Loki's.

And indeed, he had never seen his brother in such a state. Countless times, the god of Mischief had fought alongside (and against) him, but, as far as Thor knew, no opponent had ever managed to... _destroy_ him to that extent.

Well-known words and expressions were resonating again and again in his head, like open fractures and head injuries, which made him, the mighty god of Thunder, sink his nails so hard into his palms that they could probably be detached from the tip of his fingers, if he carried on.

Asgardians were much more resistant than Midgardians, which was not a surprise. Yet, given the meticulousness with which the Mad Titan had massacred Loki, followed by the physical and mental strain caused by the use of the Space Stone, there was absolutely no guarantee that his brother would emerge from his slumber with no lasting trauma.

At the moment, Loki was sleeping soundly, whereas Thor, settled on an uncomfortable plastic chair, would not close his eyes. He was aware that his brother's rest was not truly one, and had greatly been helped by the drugs that were still circulating in his veins. Thor did not know why nor how, but was genuinely grateful to see that, despite the bandage covering half of Loki's skull, his long hair had not been cut. Knowing his brother, that would probably have annoyed him much more than the entirety of his injuries.

Although all of this would annoy Loki greatly, that was a fact. Thor repressed a chuckle when thinking that the longer his brother would remain unconscious, the easier it would be for the Midgardian healers. But let's face it, who would like to wake up in such a state?

Loki's face was painful to look at. If Thor had no problem recognizing his brother, it would probably not be the case for most of the people around. Aside from the already impressive bandage around his head, numerous marks could be spotted on his skin, from stitches on his chin and forehead, to both of his eyes, especially the left one. Thor had been assured that his optic nerves had not been damaged, however it was hard to believe this assumption, when looking at the impressively large red and purple bruises covering the closed eyelids.

Thor did not know if he had to say something. To be honest, he did not especially like this idea. What should he say to his brother? _Nice to see that you are not dead, well, almost_? Or just the traditional _wake up, I'm here for you_ , which sentimentality would probably make Loki want to slam his head against the wall in order to be unconscious again.

So, he remained quiet, still fumbling with his hands out of nervousness. Which was completely stupid of him, because he had been told over and over again that Loki was not in a coma or anything of the sort, and would thus surely wake up. And yet, Thor could not let go of this irrational apprehension. Or maybe not so irrational. Despite what Loki loved to repeat, Thor was not an utter fool. Little by little, his brother's name had started to be heard and recognized. For now, everyone was still busy dealing with emergencies and trying to make sense of the situation. But Midgardians regained their senses quickly. For most of them, Loki was still directly associated with an alien invasion of Earth. Just like the one Wakanda had faced.

In the state Loki was into, one Midgardian would probably be enough to eliminate him. Could Thor really blame their wariness? No. Given all the pain every inhabitant of the Earth had been through over the last couple of weeks, getting rid of a former threat was perfectly logical. But that did not mean Thor would let anyone do so.

The background noise in the small hospital room was starting to get on Thor's nerves. Partially because it would not stop, but mostly because it was the scariest thing about Loki at the moment. Indeed, the gravity of his wounds was making it too dangerous to breathe on his own, so his face was covered by a mask connected to a mechanical ventilator that was supposed to alleviate the suffering.

Ha. Supposed to, indeed. The first thing Loki would do when regaining some freedom of movement would probably be to get rid of this thing, even though his shattered ribs were going to complain about it.

Thor breathed out slowly, refraining a wince of pain. He was not invulnerable either. His hand automatically covered the right side of his chest, where Thanos' sword had traced a long cut. Not very deep, fortunately. It would probably take him a couple of days to recover completely. That did not make him feel good. Rather, it made him more aware that, compared to his brother, Thor had received a privileged treatment.

What had happened exactly? The god of Thunder's mind was a mess, to say the least. How did Loki survive Thanos? What had exactly occurred on the Asgardian spaceship? And why did his brother seem so... different?

Undeniably, the Loki-who-saved-the-Asgardians was radically different from the Loki-who-attacked-the-Midgardians, years ago. But still. During the battle against the Titan, he had seemed even more different than the last time Thor saw him.

No, it was not the right word. Loki was not different. Loki was still Loki. Still a sharp tongue and still more than once a pain in the ass. But, judging by his attitude, his way to fight and to use his powers, he had also seemed both more focused and more playful. How could those two characteristics be associated?

 _Because Loki_ , his own mind immediately reminded him.

Loki always changed, but could he really change so rapidly? Thor's urge to obtain answers was starting to become a physical itch, and a part of him almost wanted to shake his brother's shoulders until he finally explained what in the name of Bor he had been doing. But he would not. Reason number one, both of Loki's shoulders were broken beyond reason. If the rest of his left arm was "only" covered with bruises and contusions, his entire right arm was bandaged and fully immobilized. Which lead to reason number two; so much vulnerability was definitely not the best way to bring his brother to tell what had exactly happened between his third supposed death and the present moment.

 _Just do the math_ , Thor inwardly sighed. _First, Loki. Plus, the truth. Plus, the Avengers, all here. Result: Ragnarok._

It was going to be long, and hard. Thor realized that he was dreading Loki's awakening as much as he was wishing for it.

A soft knock at the door made him startle. The god of Thunder rubbed his eyes, letting an exasperated sigh slip. Could he not just be left in peace?

It had been approximately twelve hours since they had reappeared on the rooftop of the Wakandan palace, and only four since Thor had woken up, only to rush towards the room where Loki was resting.

Apart from his brother, all those who had contributed to undoing the Snap, namely Wanda, Quill, Nebula, Strange (that was the wizard's name) and Morgan, had not yet re-emerged from their slumber. Understandably, wielding an Infinity Stone at its full power, especially to bring back half of living creatures, was not something one would do every morning. However, from what Thor had heard, their life was not in jeopardy. They needed to rest, and they would rest, no matter how long it would take.

Tony Stark's case was more preoccupying. The Midgardian's existence was still hanging by a thread, as he had lost a tremendous amount of blood. Furthermore, every single being, and the doctors were not excluded, was not in a perfectly relaxed state of mind, after seeing the beings they loved turning into ashes, then reappearing two weeks later. So, for now, it was hard to have concrete news about Stark's fate.

Louder knock at the door.

"Hey, I know you're here." A muffled voice spoke, which Thor recognized very rapidly.

He grumbled before standing up with precaution, but was truly relieved to see Valkyrie again. However, he did not let her inside.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, hoping that the conversation would be about anything but Loki.

"Sober. So, like shit." She joked.

She had been hurt pretty badly, Thor could easily tell from the way she was leaning on the wall, hiding her exhaustion under a falsely detached attitude, as proud as the warrior she was. She casted a heavy glance at him.

"You know what I'm about to say, right?" Valkyrie sighed.

"If you want answers, sadly you'll have to wait." He mumbled, on the same frustrated tone.

"You knew?!"

"Knew what?" Thor frowned.

"That _he_ was there! All the time!"

Thor closed the door behind him. Alright, if she wanted to talk, he would talk, but not next to his brother. Because, if he ever woke up in front of them talking about him, the first thing he would do would be to try to strangle one of them, or both, if he could.

"Of course, I _didn't_ know." He grinned his teeth.

"Right, you're not good at keeping secrets." Valkyrie placidly said, slowly sitting on the floor.

Thor imitated her. Of course, he didn't know. Loki would always keep secrets.

Yes, his plan had worked. To an extent. Almost. Okay, it had not worked at all, but Thor could at least see why Loki had not revealed his presence to anyone.

And yet, he was wishing for another turn of events. One where his brother would have told him, would have _trusted_ him, but Loki and trust, you know.

Thor rubbed his forehead, hoping that tiredness would miraculously fade away.

"I need a drink." He confessed.

For the first time in what were ages to him, he heard Valkyrie laugh. This sparked a surge of pure joy in him. Here they were, the two legendary Asgardian warriors, although probably closer to best friends, after a battle they had fought with all their might, admitting that they had not cottoned on to anything. Pathetically funny or just downright funny? Thor decided to go for the second answer, because enough self-loathing for today.

Then, just like that, a large sparkling golden circle appeared in front of them.

"What again..." Valkyrie hissed.

Thor stood up, not trying to conceal his upset look. What did this wizard have with teleportation at every opportunity?

But it was not Doctor Strange that emerged. It was the brown-skinned man Thor had briefly seen the day before, on the heliport.

Next to him, was Morgan. The least Thor could say was that she did not look at the top of her game. Bruises of all colours of the rainbow were scattered on her face, along with huge dark rings under her eyes.

"Sorry for interrupting." The man said, closing the teleportation circle in an instant.

"Who are you?" Thor and Valkyrie simultaneously inquired.

"I am Som."

"Son?" The god of Thunder repeated, unsure of the pronunciation.

"Sun?" Valkyrie questioned, visibly as confused as him.

"Exactly." He smirked, and Thor saw that Morgan's mouth was starting to twitch, revealing a repressed burst of laughter.

"Why are you here?" The god of Thunder ordered more than asked.

Morgan was not very at ease, and that was an understatement. Which her friend, Sum, or whatever his name was, seemed to notice all too well.

"You know, you still have a choice, if you have an urge to see Tokyo, just suggesting." He tranquilly suggested.

"Now that I think about it, I would be down for sushi." She winked.

"You realize I'm a second away from bringing you back to your hospital room, right? And to make you stay in it for a while." Valkyrie threatened, at her wits' end.

"Okay, okay!" Morgan sighed, visibly as irked as them, but raising her palms before her in a peaceful manner "I've had enough fight for the next fifty years. I just figured that, before _some people_ wake up, you might want to hear some explanations."

Thor already had trouble hiding his impatience and now, if someone even tried to interrupt them, he would not give much for his life.

"Is that a long explanation?" Valkyrie questioned.

"Depends. Do you have any drinks?"

* * *

 **I should write a one-shot where this entire team is completely drunk and is creating mayhem. And I mean, the ENTIRE team we see gathered here. Who's down for that?**

 **Okay so, very rapidly, and without spoiling anything, of course this fiction is Endgame-spoiler-free. I had the end in my head for way too long for me to brutally insert some elements of the movie. At best there can be some little references here and there, but nothing more than that. For those eager to know my opinion, I didn't really like it. Don't get me wrong, it was a great movie to see in theatre, but a lot of my expectations were crushed under a steamroller.**

 **Answer to SoylentIsSilent: Thank you very much for your review! And glad you liked the fight so much! I now realize how long it actually is, so I'm really happy to have kept it exciting! About Nebula, indeed her connection with the Reality Stone is much less evident than Loki's or Wanda's for example, but here, the Reality Stone _needs_ a host. Since neither Jane nor the Collector is here, it has to someone at least slightly related to it. And, since no one could tell that this would happen, I don't think it would have been realistic to suddenly call for Jane Foster, "just in case the Reality Stone has to possess you again, wink wink." Thank youuuuuu for your comment!**


	48. Infinite power

Maybe they should not have done that so early. Maybe they should not have done it, period. But, as far as Natasha Romanov was concerned, backing out was not an option anymore.

There was plenty of vast conference rooms in the royal palace of Wakanda, but it was a safe bet to say that none had ever hosted such a plethora of incredible beings. Incredible in all senses of the term. One would not even know where to begin. Perhaps with the team of space vigilantes involving a talking racoon, a talking tree, a talking... Natasha did not know why, but the very first image which came to her mind, when introduced to the young woman named Mantis, was that of an axolotl.

Anyway.

Next, there was this couple of renowned scientists and, as a side-note, discoverers of a way to access the quantum realm, namely Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, both supervising the duo best known as Ant-Man and the Wasp, rather, Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne.

To remain in the bestiary section, there was evidently this increasingly famous Spider-Man, a teenager whose strength, agility and reflexes needed no commentary.

If only the list could stop there, but evidently, there was much more. Was there anything to say about the Masters of the Mystic Arts, an apparently thousands-year-old organization protecting the Earth against any kind of psychic threat?

Also, let's not forget some old faces; Bucky Barnes, the very reason for which the Avengers had fought each other, years ago. And the murderer of Tony Stark's parents.

Tony Stark, who was seated barely four chairs away from him, currently busy telling James Rhodes that _no_ , he was _fine_ , at least _fine enough_ , and that he would _prefer to sleep in this room rather than leaving it on a wheelchair_.

Natasha could not prevent a feeble smile from appearing on her lips. Tony was still here, and Tony-er than ever.

Although this surely did not mean that he was healthier than ever. The engineer was a mess, that was a fact. His face may have regained some colours, but was still abnormally pale. Regarding his left arm, well, there was no left arm to regard anymore. A bandage was easily discernible under his shirt, letting the wound heal before deciding what the next step would be. Perhaps he would join the metallic limbs team, alongside Barnes and Nebula. Or perhaps not. With Tony, there was no unmovable certainty.

True, the combined efforts of Shuri and Bruce, with Janet Van Dyne's assistance, had allowed the wounded to recover at a much quicker speed than usual. Quantum healing particles accelerated tissue regeneration. Though Natasha Romanov was far from being an expert, she had no doubt this discovery would lead to tremendous breakthroughs in medical science, from healing skin cells, to bones, to even organs.

However, quantum healing particles were not the ultimate panacea either. First, because they were extremely difficult to duplicate. The reason for this was their very name. Everything that had to do with quantum energy was the complete opposite of stability. Second, growing an entire arm was something else. Even if Tony was keen on experiments, this one would probably take some time to be tested.

Lastly, accelerated did not mean instant. Many across the table were still bearing evident marks of their fight against Thanos, almost three days away. Natasha herself was no exception. Both her shoulders were still hurting like hell, and her twisted ankle was not making things easier. Steve was not outdone. The very simple act of shaving his beard had surely not been a pleasure cruise, due to the impressive bruise on his jaw, and Natasha had noticed the limp of his right leg, despite his efforts to conceal it. The only one actually _making_ _fun_ of his own wound was Rocket. Natasha was not getting the running joke, but he seemed to find it incredibly exciting to miss an ear.

Still, if only sufferings were just physical...

Next to her, Wanda had not spoken a word since she had entered the room. Her gaze was fixed. Cold. Natasha did not know what to say. Should she say anything? Wanda had brought everyone back. Everyone but the person she most of all wanted to bring back. It was way too early to say if there was any hope for Vision.

On the other side of the room, the same gaze could be spotted, hidden under sneers or laughter, on the faces of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Natasha had only heard about Gamora, but it had been easy for her to guess that she would not come back.

It was not only mourning that was painful. Whatever the outcome of the fight had been, memories of it would not be easily forgotten. Thanos obliterating Tony's arm, controlling Thor's mind, trapping them all in this dream-like world, which had turned into a nightmare as soon as they had gotten out of it...

Everyone was still overwhelmed by the rapidity and intensity of the recent events. Which was why it was perhaps a little early to organize a reunion to make sense of the last couple of weeks.

 _But some sense would be very much welcome._

With this thought in mind, Natasha Romanov was looking right at the two persons facing her, each displaying a unique form of reluctance to attend this reunion.

Like the excellent spy she had been trained to be, Natasha could already guess a number of things about Morgan. Most of all, that she did not like her. Fair enough, the feeling was mutual. This woman reminded her of the hardest targets she had been assigned, during her previous life. The hardest, but not because they were skilled in combat. Actually, the latter category was quite easy to deal with and to take care of, once their weaknesses were spotted. No, the hardest because they knew how to be anyone they wanted. Morgan had easily been Adder, the same way she had probably been many others. Both of them were very alike, which was probably why Natasha was still unsure of what to think.

The problem was, Morgan had those powers. The bigger problem was, there was not only Morgan.

" _I won't touch Barton! Not until I make him kill you. Slowly, intimately, in every way, he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams, I'll split his skull. This is my bargain, you mewling quim!"_

There came he most confusing part.

Had someone told her that the being she had in front of her was not Loki but actually his clone, Natasha would have had no problem believing it. Mentally, even physically to some extent, it was not the same person. There was no light of insanity shining in his eyes, no trace whatsoever of the sadistic behaviour he had displayed years ago, when threatening her on the SHEILD Helicarrier, or when forcing a crowd to kneel before him, right after having savagely _ripped a man's eye of his skull_.

The spy frequently had to remind herself that indeed, it was the same person. The guy who had fought the Avengers had helped every single one of them, even her, from what the others had told. The guy who had wanted to make his own brother suffer as much as possible had risked his life more than once to save him. Cherry on the cake, the guy who had brought Thanos' army to New-York had ended up fighting with all his might, and winning, against the same Thanos.

Natasha Romanov was undoubtedly not the only one in dire need of an update. Although this update would undoubtedly be tough to obtain, given the _extremely cooperative_ mentality of Morgan and Loki.

The door of the conference room closed, interrupting her thoughts. T'Challa, followed by his sister Shuri and general Okoye, was the last to enter.

"If we are all here, I suggest we start." The king of Wakanda calmly told.

"Yeah, start with what, that's the question." Rocket sneered.

"Perhaps with the most preoccupying thing for us at the moment." Steven Strange immediately replied "All six Infinity Stones disappeared, and there is no way for us to know where they have gone."

"Uh, wait. You literally _held_ them." The racoon continued, raising his eyebrows "How could you _not_ know that?"

"As their name suggests, these are Infinity Stones." The sorcerer snapped "Even after years of studying and wielding the Time Stone, discerning the very core of its power is a very relative task. Also, I may add that bringing half of the Universe back was quite a... troublesome process."

"So, that's why the Garden, or whichever planet we were on, was literally dusted when you used the Stones?" Rocket inquired.

"It was Titan." Nebula intervened.

Looks of disbelief followed her assertion, especially from Strange and Tony.

"The planet was Titan, modified by the Reality Stone." The cyborg elaborated "I felt its energy all around us. Its influence stopped after we reversed Thanos' actions."

Following Thanos' twisted perception of the world and of himself, that made perfect sense. Nothing better than an entirely fabricated Eden to take a well-deserved retirement.

"In any case, isn't that better for all of us, not to have to deal with these Stones anymore?" Scott Lang uneasily questioned.

"Others might deal with them in a way that will not be the best for us." T'Challa answered "The thirst for such power is not that uncommon."

"We cannot let objects of such unlimited potential fall into the wrong hands again." Strange concluded "One way or another, we _will_ have to secure them."

"Sure, it's just six one-inch pebbles scattered across the whole Universe. Piece of cake." Rocket sarcastically added.

Natasha spotted the growing smile on Tony's lips, and had to admit that she also secretly appreciated the racoon's dedication to make fun of the very solemn Master of the Mystic Arts.

"So, let's start with where we are, now." Sam Wilson stepped in "What Thanos did had consequences, and not all of them have been solved. I don't know if you've been able to catch up with some news, but... It's not pretty. Like, not at all."

The atmosphere became even bleaker, if it was possible. Natasha had indeed had a little time to look at the rare news reports that were still functioning, in the current state of general mayhem, but the least she could say was that the situation was far from stable.

They may have won against Thanos and brought the dusted back; however, they had not brought _everyone_ back. Countless people had perished due to the disappearance of others. In cars. In trains. In airplanes. Administrations were still bleeding out. Governments had been shaken to the core. In some places, the food and energy supplies were critical. A few days ago, an accident had been very narrowly contained in a nuclear central, not far away from New-York. Several cities across the world were still left to pure anarchy. To sum it up, no return to normal anytime soon. Wakanda had been spared this fate due to its small size, which was making it easier to manage, as well as the presence of the Avengers, shortly followed by the discovery of quantum healing particles, a tremendous upgrade in the general mindset.

"The problem is, how to tell the entire story?" Pepper Potts pointed out "Not even half of the people in this room has seen Thanos more than two seconds, or at all. They just turned to dust, or saw others turn to dust, without any warning."

A heavy silence followed. Indeed, the mere fact of saying why half of the world had become ashes, then reappeared without any explanation, already seemed like an impossible task.

"You told me you do not remember what happened, after you were... gone?" Tony gently reminded.

"It's not exactly that, I... It was like a dream." Pepper tried to explain "I remember something, but fuzzy sounds and images. Nothing I can focus on. It surely didn't feel like two weeks have passed."

"Wait, are you sure about that?" Peter Quill dubiously asked "It felt very real to me. I mean, I remember seeing all of you guys, and Gamora." He told the Guardians "And then, I clearly remember talking to _you_ , before getting out!"

Finally, a look at the person who might have some answers to give.

Morgan was wishing for everything but to be there, and she was not hiding it. All heads around the table simultaneously turned to her and Loki. On her left was a man Natasha had never seen before, with Indian or Pakistani origins. His accent, however, was more British than anything else. The spy's eyes narrowed. If he was her friend, which he seemed to be, there was a high probability for him to also be the _Naja_ Thanos had mentioned.

Natasha clenched her fist. Answers, no more questions.

"Hiya." Morgan ironically said, shaking her hand in a derisive way, as if introducing herself to the audience.

"Yeah, good to see you too." Tony played along "And you know, it could be wonderful to actually tell us simple things like who you are, and what you've been doing all along. Oh, and also, what _you_ are doing here as well, and why you were a rattlesnake most of the time."

Useless to precise who the latter _you_ was, although two thirds of the room were left in a hazy incomprehension after the last part of Tony's sentence.

"Inland taipan, please." Morgan corrected.

Natasha already heard her taser calling her.

"Although, just one question, before I start." She continued "Is it a Nuremberg-style trial?"

"Half of this room did not get the reference, you know." Her Indian friend tranquilly added "Maybe sum it up in three words."

"War, trials, Nazis."

"You're saying you're a Nazi?" Scott Lang asked, already lost.

"What's a Nazi?" Mantis innocently inquired.

The muffled sound that followed was Shuri trying to refrain her laughter. Briefly surveying the room, Natasha noticed that, of course, Tony's mouth was slightly twitching, and even Clint, on her left, seemed to relish it. Needless to say, Loki was more than enjoying the show.

Somehow, it was going to hurt.

"What I imply is, are we your enemies right from the start, no matter what we say? Because it's not the case, in case you were still having doubts." Morgan clarified.

"That's more or less what you said to me, before you hypnotized me." Clint intervened, dead-serious this time "Before you hypnotized _all of us_ , actually."

"I won't say that I am sorry for that, I really had no other option. But I did not especially like it, if this is what you insinuate."

"Okay, what's that hypnosis thing you're talking about?" Sam asked, to no one in particular "And why did you say you talked to her in this... Soul World? I mean, I don't remember anything either."

"You said you have the Soul Stone's power." Wanda reminded.

"I do. As you have all witnessed, the Soul is a peculiar one, among the Infinity Stones." Morgan explained "It seeks hosts, but for a very specific purpose. I had the... _not really great opportunity_ to receive some of its power, before it attempted to possess me. Luckily, it failed."

"And how can you be sure it did _not_ fail?" Strange queried.

"Otherwise, I would probably be feeding on the souls of all living creatures of the planet, I guess. Oh, and also, I would not be here, in front of a bunch of people able to kill me in a second."

Made sense.

"So, you've got some of the Soul Stone's abilities?" Peter Quill summed up "That's why you could access the Soul World?"

"And you're an empath too!" Mantis intervened, on a very excited tone.

"You mean, she can touch someone and making him sleep, just like you?" Drax questioned.

"She doesn't even need to touch him, for that matter." Clint mumbled, before opening the water bottle that had been placed in front of him.

"Can I?" Mantis asked, as impatient as a child about to open a present.

Both curiosity and caution were visible in Morgan's eyes. As for Natasha, it was rather apprehension.

" _I would probably be feeding on the souls of all living creatures of the planet, I guess."_

The image of Morgan, eyes bright gold and face torn by rage, countering every single one of the Infinity Stones' attacks, came back to Natasha's mind. She was not to be taken lightly.

Nevertheless, the raven-haired woman slowly extended her arm to express her consent, and the alien gleefully rose from her chair. Both Loki and her Indian friend gave her a doubtful look, but did not protest, seeing how confident Morgan seemed.

When Mantis touched her hand, her antennas suddenly shone, and her smile disappeared.

"Oh..." Was all she managed to say.

"What's the matter? What do you feel?" Quill rapidly questioned.

"I am Groot?"

"Nothing." Mantis stammered, slowly returning to her seat "I don't feel anything in you. It's like you're not alive, or anything..."

"Mh. Like a stone, I suppose." Morgan evasively answered, crossing her arms against her chest.

"But, with that power, you were also able to take some people out of the Soul World, weren't you?" Steve inquired, wisely changing subject.

"In your case, I could, because it was only your soul that was imprisoned there. But I could not take the victims of the Snap out on my own." Morgan acknowledged "The Stones are related, you see. Once the Gauntlet was broken, they all called for the wielder who was the most apt to defeat Thanos. So, it seems that the people brought back by the six Infinity Stones have no memory of their stay in the Soul World. Which is for the best, in my opinion."

Natasha winced. She could still feel the pure bliss this dimension had provoked. Safety. Joy. Acceptance. She had felt all these feelings, and yet she had not lived for them.

"Okay, I get how you managed to fight Thanos." Rhodes said "But how did you even know about him? Like, you arrived in Wakanda two days after he used the Stones, and you already seemed to be well informed."

Then, Morgan smiled at Loki.

"This is the part where you step in."

"Thank you for noticing." He sarcastically grinned.

"My pleasure."

Barely contained sigh from Thor, who was sat next to his brother, and faint smirk from Valkyrie, alongside him. More than enough clues for Natasha.

They knew. Both of them had already heard the full story, probably more. And Thor's apprehension was not really a good sign.

"I don't really know what happened between you and them." Rocket suddenly told Loki "But I guess you've kinda tried to murder them or some stuff."

"Pretty much." Clint cut.

"And then, you reappear as a _snake_ , with no one having _any clue_ that it's you, not even your own _brother_ , and you hang around for days _trolling_ us, to finally stick aknife in Thanos' _throat_! That's the best thing _ever_!"

The racoon burst out laughing, hitting the wooden table out of hilarity. Drax followed, because... Because. The two of them were not disturbed at all by everyone else's deadly stares.

"You are very perceptive. I presume you are the leader of this group?" Loki smiled from ear to ear, designating the Guardians.

"Yeah, I am."

"No, you're not." Quill mumbled.

"Indeed, I supposed you had a lot of information to give about Thanos, since you invaded New-York as his ally." Strange reminded.

"Are you even more short-sighted than I thought?" Loki suddenly snapped.

"Loki..." Thor warned.

"I heard you have faced him as well. You should know by now that Thanos never had any _ally_." Loki hissed.

Natasha was slowly starting to get the picture, although she already had quite a clear idea beforehand. Loki had nothing in common with Thanos. When they had faced him, he was actually quite pathetic, trying to impose his non-existent authority on defenceless civilians and getting punched in the face by everyone who was more or less able to throw a punch. A wacky alien with enough strength to ransack a city, but on his own, well, he would not put up much of a fight.

Thanos, however, was at the opposite sight of the spectrum. He was taking orders from no one, but taking his time, making calculated plans. If Loki was barking but no biting much, Thanos knew where to hit, and he had hit pretty hard. In other words, ...

"The Sceptre." She simply spoke.

In Loki's eyes, when he turned to her, she could almost feel how burning his shame was. Which could _very_ easily turn into anger, and she knew what anger looked like, with him. If she wanted her answers, she would need to go step-by-step.

"Yes, agent Romanov, the Sceptre."

"Sorry but which Sceptre are we talking about?" Peter Quill inquired.

"The one which contained the Mind Stone." Wanda monotonously explained.

Next to her, Natasha noticed that Clint had stopped fidgeting with the now empty plastic water bottle.

"Precisely." Loki indicated "Although I had control over my actions, I was not entirely myself when I first came to Midgard."

"Oh, alright, then everything's fine." Sam bitterly replied "That's cool, we can tell to the hundreds of innocents he's killed that he was _not entirely himself_ , case closed."

"Be careful how you speak." Thor reacted.

Natasha pinched her eyebrow arch. Sam Wilson had a lot of qualities, but tactfulness was not one of them. And Loki seemed to be way past his tolerance threshold. Had Sam been alone with him, he would not have survived. But Sam was not stupid. He knew very well that, at the moment, Loki was not in a strong position. And he was frustrated not to know what had exactly happened, rather, to discover how everyone had fought the Mad Titan, while he was imprisoned in the Soul World. He would have wanted to help Steve, more than anything. Instead, he had been utterly powerless.

Unfortunately, Loki had guessed this very quickly.

"Do not bother, brother." Loki replied, before turning to Sam, and Natasha would not have been surprised to see droplets of venom dripping from his teeth "After all, he has _not seen anything_."

Steve immediately reacted, clenching firmly Sam's left arm, as the latter was already standing, with raw fury shining in his eyes.

Presently the room seemed divided into two camps. Those who had been dusted, and those who had not. The formers were looking daggers at Loki, sharing Sam's bitterness not to have been able to counter Thanos in any way, whereas the latter, though not to the point of being on Loki's side, could not entirely disagree with him. Natasha had to admit, the fight had been hard for all of them, and Loki had had more than his share of pain. And he was far from having recovered. His face was still bruised, his right arm bandaged and immobilized. In short, cornered and wounded. Not the best situation.

"Don't. Please don't." Steve whispered to his friend.

But Sam was starting to see red, and Loki's smirk was not helping.

"You're a goddam war criminal..." He choked "You had fun in murder and destruction. Mind control or not, that makes no difference at all."

"Actually, it does make a huge difference."

It had only been a couple of hours since Natasha had first heard this voice, yet it was easily identifiable. It belonged to the tall Indian man, who had not spoken since the beginning of the conversation; however, he had chosen the perfect moment to intervene, and everyone's heads turned toward him. Not displaying the slightest sign of embarrassment, he carried on;

"To make a familiar comparison, has it never happened to anyone here to board a train, exhausted after a very long day, just to be stuck next to the loudest toddler on Earth, and to find yourself picturing his head next to a metal saw with breath-taking accuracy?"

Telling silence around the room.

"Alright, I'm a terrible human being then." He continued, still terribly at ease "But here's the thing: I have lucidity. At least, what's left of it. As far as I understand, the Mind Stone's skulduggery erases this lucidity. It, let's say, blurred the limit between what you wanted to do and what you seriously considered doing, right?"

He had turned to Loki upon finishing the last sentence. Thor's brother only acquiesced, too busy fighting against what Natasha suspected to be an irrepressible urge to laugh. His mouth was twitching into a half-controlled smile.

Loki, smiling? Laughing? And no, not talking about the creepy-sneaky smile, here. It was closer to having fun without destroying someone's fun (or destroying someone, period, for that matters), which was clearly unusual of him, at least from what the spy knew.

"And, you are?" Sam asked, on a tone that was revealing a fairly high level of annoyance, mixed with bewilderment.

"Som."

" _Som_?"

"Like Sam. But with an o, careful."

It was atrocious. Natasha wanted to laugh so bad. She saw that Morgan had closed her eyes and was taking a very deep inspiration, probably on the verge of doing so as well. In a way, she was grateful to this one. Som had brutally alleviated the tension, at the moment where Loki was probably about to turn into a hyena, if he knew what a hyena looked like, to jump over the table and tear Sam Wilson's head apart.

"It looks a little too easy to me." Okoye stepped in "Now that Thanos and the Infinity Stones are gone, there is no other proof than your words that you were indeed mind-controlled. And after what happened, I do not want to take any more risk when it comes to the safety of our kingdom."

"Wakanda has already taken a similar risk, hasn't it?" A new voice spoke.

Bucky Barnes. He was also very different from the last time Natasha had seen him, and not only because of his new Vibranium arm. He seemed much more in control, and much more peaceful. Loki was staring at him with an interrogating look, probably uncertain of what to think about him.

"Your case was entirely different." Okoye replied.

"Any case of mind-control is different, because, you know, everything happens in the mind." Shuri pointed out.

"Finally." Loki haughtily sighed, and one could almost read word for word _it's funny how dumb all of you are_ on his face.

Natasha sighed as well. This guy was really not making things easy.

"And by the way, weren't you supposed to be dead, earlier on?" Rhodes reminded.

"That, as you Midgardians like to say, is none of your business."

"It can be, if you're planning to trick us again one way or another."

"You flatter me, colonel Rhodes."

"Enough." Thor cut, both his brother and everyone else "Loki's help has been decisive against Thanos, and I am absolutely certain that he has no malicious plan whatsoever."

"Really?" Another new voice interrupted.

A calm, yet sharp voice, coming from the man sat next to Bruce. Of quite small size, with white hair and piercing eyes, Hank Pym did not even need to say a word for people to be aware of his intelligence. And his arrogance. To some extent, one always went with the other.

"Judging by the description of your powers, you are able to create projections, as well as dissimulate existing objects." Hank Pym continued.

"What are you insinuating, exactly?" Loki replied, not impressed the slightest.

"I simply cannot help finding the so-called disappearance of the Infinity Stones very _convenient_." The scientist observed.

An icy silence settled in the room. Suddenly, even the people who had more or less defended Loki from time to time, like Bucky or Shuri, were giving him a completely different look. Wariness. Natasha herself had to admit; Hank Pym's doubts were extremely pertinent. Thor himself was not looking so confident anymore. His gaze was marked by uneasiness.

As for Loki, his look had changed as well. It had only lasted half a second, but Natasha had clearly spotted the distinctive spark of _fear_ , no, of _panic_ in his eyes. Which tended to be the usual reaction, when one was being seen right through.

However, the most preoccupying thing was Morgan. Her eyes were not bearing any trace of golden colour, nevertheless, she was on the lookout. Ready to react to any sudden move. Natasha clenched her fist. This was not good at all.

"This is indeed a question worth asking." Strange asserted "Which makes me think, how exactly did Thanos obtain the Space Stone, supposedly secured on Asgard?"

"That hardly matters now, doesn't it?" Valkyrie evasively answered, which actually increased Natasha's disbelief.

Loki may have indeed been a decisive help against Thanos, yet, the least she could say was that he was not the sacrifice-myself-for-the-greater-good type. He was visibly not driven by hysteria anymore, but that did not mean he had no more interests to take care of. And was there a better way to obtain the six Infinity Stones at once than relying on others' strength? Had him and Morgan planned all of that from the start? Were they even telling the truth this whole time?

"Let me remind you your own words, sorcerer of Midgard." Loki defiantly told Strange " _Troublesome_ is indeed a fitting description for the process of bringing half of the Universe back. Wielding one Stone was already straining enough. What makes you think I suddenly managed to retrieve all six Stones afterwards?"

"He's got a point." Rocket remarked, which did not seem to be enough to convince the majority of the people in the room.

"Doesn't look that irrelevant to me." Rhodes objected "Didn't Thanos say that you managed to _fake_ your death, several times?"

"Alright, I'm done." Som suddenly interrupted, and this time, with absolutely no light-hearted intention in mind "You really are a bunch of fucking morons."

He had spat the last two words with all the contempt that could ever be contained in a human being. Natasha had not been the only one taken aback by this burst of irritation. Hank Pym and Doctor Strange were especially interesting to look at.

"Time for you to either shut up or take a break." Sam warned him.

"You don't even want to know why I just insulted you? Because I've got a good reason for that!"

"In that case, you better explain it quickly." Okoye ordered, not hiding her indignation either.

"Infinite power." Som bluntly said, his anger noticeably growing at each syllable he was pronouncing "You have no problem assuming that _this guy here_ stole all six Infinity Stones for himself. Supposing that you've got some kind of... I don't know... portable dimension... that acts like a Gauntlet of something... and it's constantly invisible, and... I mean, I don't exactly know the extent of your power, so let's presume you are able to do all of that."

Loki, his face marked by pure amazement, was not about to interrupt Som anytime soon, hence the latter continued his speech.

"So, if he's got all six Infinity Stones, he has infinite power, he can all agree on that. Why aren't you all dead?!"

"What?!" Was the only word Valkyrie managed to pronounce.

"Okay, maybe not dead, seems a bit much. Let's rather say, why hasn't Loki erased any of your memories? Or, even better, erased any doubt you could have about him? Oh, and teleported himself anywhere but here? Because you are all ready to admit that he's got infinite power and _doesn't use it_?!"

Natasha grinned her teeth. Indeed, they should not have organized such a reunion so early. Everyone was still in shock, yet yearning for an explanation.

The difference between those who had fought Thanos and those who had not was flagrant. The former were evidently exhausted. I had probably taken Tony all the energy he had managed to retrieve to attend this meeting, only a handful of hours after having woken up. The latter were surely confused. Reappearing two weeks after having become actual ashes was not agreeable for anyone. And, since Thanos was not present anymore to take the blame, Loki was the most likely to be accused of anything.

Oh, Loki was _far_ from being innocent, but keeping a cold head was still of utmost importance, and every person here was far from having a steady mindset at the moment. Which included Som, by the way. He may have been perceptive, but now, he was on fire.

"Seriously, I admire your self-control!" The Indian told both Morgan and Loki "You brought half of the Universe back, what, barely three days ago, and they are all trying to guess where the trick was!"

Reactions were diverse across the room. Thor's guilt was speaking for itself. Admiration was easily discernible on Shuri's face. Vexation was not hard to spot on Strange's one. On the side of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Drax had opened a bag of snacks he had found God knew where, something like peanuts or cashews, and was handing them around to Quill, Mantis, Rocket and Groot.

"It's really like one of those crappy action movies! _Of course_ , the bad guy has ultimate power, and _of course_ , he will never actually use it! We just lack the diabolical laugh; do you have one?!"

"Diabolical laugh?" Loki repeated.

"Yes!"

"No."

"Thanks!"

After having finished his tirade, Som briskly sat back in his chair and crossed his arms so furiously that Natasha wondered if he had not broken both his elbows in the process. Everyone was still dumbfounded.

"You're alright?" Morgan carefully asked him, a few seconds later.

"I'm alright! I'm _perfectly_ alright!"

"Want something to drink?"

"Glass of water!"

Morgan's bottle was empty, so Loki grabbed his, which he had not touched, and handed it to him.


	49. The Cobra family

Bruce Banner had no idea what to say. Should he say something?

"Dude, say something, you're going to freak me out." Tony interrupted.

The scientist sighed discreetly. Without exaggeration, assessing _this guy_ 's physical condition was one of the hardest tasks he had ever handled. One moment, he was saying that he was perfectly fine, on such a convincing tone that everyone had no problem believing him, the next, he almost passed out. At least, this had brought the meeting to a concrete end. No one had really known what to add, after their collective humiliation (Bruce had not felt especially humiliated, but for several people in the conference room, it had been quite difficult not to throw this Indian guy out of the window), except, of course, Tony Stark. First, the only reason why he had not given a one-man standing ovation was that having just one hand would give a pretty poor result. Second, he had at least wanted to raise from his seat and say that upon these words of wisdom they might as end this reunion before everyone got mad, and wham! Of course, he had collapsed. Though Bruce had not said I told you so, he had thought it very clearly.

"Nothing to say Tony, apart from _rest_." He insisted, taking off the blood pressure monitor "Do not stand up so quickly again, alright?"

Not that it had been entirely Tony's fault. Whose idea had it been, to organize such a meeting, only five or six hours after he had awakened? Half of the participants were still on painkillers, himself included.

"Yeah, got it." The engineer nodded, rubbing his forehead "What about you? You're okay?"

Bruce glanced at his left arm, rather, at the bandage around it. The cut he had received was quite impressive, at first glance, but not very deep. He could still move his arm, although it was too early for him to manage a complete medical check.

"I mean, what happened, with you and your guy?" Tony added "One moment, he's sulking, the next, he's in Super-Saiyan mode. I'm kind of confused."

"So am I, trust me." Bruce retorted.

He was undeniably confused. Now, even the expression "the other guy" seemed... It seemed wrong. There was no real _other_. Not anymore. Bruce remembered everything. He could perfectly recall Thanos' furious attacks, and how he had called for both instinct and concentration, instead of letting himself driven by pure anger. It was not Hulk and Doctor Banner anymore. It was just… him.

"That place, where Thanos sent us." He started "That Soul World... It changes something in you, I don't exactly know what, but it does."

"You're not the only ones who are getting confused here..."

Bruce had almost forgotten about Pepper, who had not spoken a word since he had started his rudimentary medical examination. She was sitting in a chair against the wall, not far away from them. They had not come back to the hospital, but had been provided with a bedroom inside the royal palace of Wakanda, as most of the Avengers had. Basically, everyone was given any kind of shelter. It had been troubling, but also reassuring, to see that the "dusted" had reappeared not at the exact place where they had vanished, but always next to their loved ones. At least, next to someone who was slightly related to them, or who was just thinking about them...

In any case, from what Bruce had heard, this phenomenon had provoked a surge of solidarity and empathy like he had never seen before. People across Wakanda were accepting total strangers in their houses, sharing their food, helping them look for their relatives. They were also more than glad to host the refugees from Asgard and Xandar. The current atmosphere was impossible to define; people were all confused, still dreading that half of the population might disappear once again, and yet they were also ready to give everything they had for the living. A mix of panic and euphoria.

"I still... I can't even picture what you told me..." Pepper continued, addressing both Tony and him "Thanos, and these Infinity Stones, and this... this Soul World... If no one knows where the Stones have gone, it's not reassuring at all."

"Yeah, but... I feel like they will be hiding." Tony thought out-loud.

"What do you mean, hiding?" Bruce inquired.

"You've seen their power; you've seen how they... How they _act_. These are not just magic rocks. They've got some sort of conscience."

"Has this Morgan anything to do with it?" Pepper questioned.

"Ugh, don't get me started on her..." Tony sighed "I think those three jackasses know much more than all of us, and of course they won't give us the entire story!"

Bruce had to admit; Tony was all too right. Dealing with Morgan had already been a little difficult, when she had arrived "on her own"in Wakanda, and now Loki and what was his name again, oh right, Som, had joined the party.

"Talking about the entire story, we have more down-to-earth concerns..." Pepper reluctantly announced.

"God, you've got the I-have-bad-news-and-worse-news face." Tony remarked, which at least brought a small smile on Pepper's face.

"Ross won't give up calling." She finally said.

Bruce was certain that Tony's expression was the exact replica of his one. If she had just mentioned the Ross he was thinking about, the Thaddeus Ross who had supervised the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project, in other words what had created the Hulk, then it was indeed _not_ good news. For him, at least.

"Great." Tony mumbled "Awesome. Super-freaking cool. We've just saved the Universe and he still wanna show off."

"As we said before you're only, what, twenty people at best who actually saw Thanos." Pepper reminded.

"Oh yeah, because the giant spaceships and the armies of aliens he brought to Wakanda were completely invisible?! I swear, Secretary of State or not, if he just wants to mess around..."

"He's Secretary of State now..." Bruce repeated, his hand on his temple.

 _This_ was bad. The meeting they had this morning with Morgan and Loki? He would happily go through ten of those instead of explaining the recent events to Thaddeus Ross.

"Don't tell me there's worse." Tony suddenly cut, although a big yes was written in capital letters on Pepper's forehead.

"He'll soon be on his way to Wakanda." She informed.

"What?!" Both Bruce and Tony exclaimed.

"Rhodes and I just got the information; he should be there in two days." Pepper continued, not destabilized the slightest, although she was clearly upset.

" _What_?!"

"That's what Everett Ross told T'Challa."

"Wait, which Ross are we talking about?" Bruce asked, totally lost.

"Old prick-Ross, that's the one you know and the one who's coming." Tony clarified "Younger Ross, apparently he's already been to Wakanda, maybe he's less of a prick, don't know, never met him."

Pepper rolled her eyes, as Tony was everything but calming down.

"Can't T'Challa hold him back, or anything?" Bruce reflected.

"That's basically what they have been doing until now." Pepper explained "But they brandish the _American citizens_ arguments and although _technically_ it's Wakandan soil, they are..."

"This won't end well." Bruce asserted.

"Come on, I don't think he'll shoot at you as soon as he arrives, Ross is a douchebag but he's not that stupid." Tony assured.

"I wasn't talking about me." He corrected "Imagine; he walks in and who does he see? The international war criminal Loki."

"Ow. Right."

"I don't think he will even bother to listen about Thanos." Bruce carried on.

"Probably. Though I think the option imprisoning or executing Loki is definitely off the list, as the god of Thunder won't really appreciate it." Pepper very calmly observed.

This woman had iron nerves.

Also, Bruce would lie if he said that suddenly turning against Loki would leave him indifferent. Sure, Thor's brother was still _extremely irritating_ , but that was just it. Irritating, not sadistic. Loki had not even tried to run away. Alright, maybe he still was too wounded to do so (Bruce had vaguely heard about the amount of deadly blows he had received, actually the god of Mischief had become a kind of legend, as he should have died something like seventy times, had it not been for his tremendous resistance) but Morgan had not done anything either against any of them.

"We need some time to think about all of this." Bruce affirmed.

"And a place." Tony completed.

"You're not thinking about what I think you're thinking?" Pepper asked, half-amused, half-serious.

"I think so."

Bruce hated that, when they were communicating solely by insinuations. But it did not take him much time to understand.

"A _place_?" He exclaimed "Tony, you're _kidding_!"

"I mean, let's face it..." The engineer smirked, raising his hand in front of him in a fake defensive posture "At this stage, all of us are more or less Avengers, right?"

* * *

"I'm so hungry..." Som complained.

"You're also crazy." Morgan replied "I will cherish this memory for ever, their faces were priceless. You deserve fifty homemade crepes, with salted caramel."

"For your guidance, I just repressed a very sexual moan."

Morgan burst out laughing. It felt so good. Finally, they were together again, and there was nothing they could not do, Som and her. They were alive. Alive. Now was not the time for accusations disguised in boring reunions, no, now was the time for celebration.

"May I suggest..." Morgan mischievously started "We do a good deed, and alleviate this royal palace from a few of their drinks?"

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Som beamed.

"We might even _accidentally_ suggest that to Valkyrie." Loki smirked.

"Ouch. Violence has escalated." Morgan chuckled.

The three of them were walking side by side in the corridors, having just left the conference room. The meeting had ended quite rapidly, after Stark had stumbled on the floor and been carried away by Rhodes and Banner. Most of the people had either joined their families, such as Lang and Barton, or were still talking in a small group, most probably about the risks Loki and Morgan could represent at the moment. Hence why they had _courteously_ been escorted out of the room.

Morons, all of them.

However, Morgan could be grateful to Thor. The king of Asgard was firmly standing his ground to defend both of them, and Som's outburst had actually made more than one, if not unsuspicious, at least less wary of them.

"Still feels weird, though." Som said "To be in the middle of those heroes, those gods, those aliens, I really like the talking tree by the way, and saying hi, I'm an estate agent and you're all thick as two short planks, cheers."

"I really should build a shrine to you." Morgan declared.

"Though some of them seem pretty hot-headed, I don't want to lose my teeth either." The Indian nervously chuckled.

"Let them even try to harm you, and we are going to have so much fun." Loki asserted, with a threatening grin.

"Is that normal that now I want to provoke them just to see what would happen?" Som laughed "Hey, what's wrong?!"

Loki had stopped, and was now holding his chest with his left hand, the right one still being immobilized in a plaster cast. His breath was heavy, and when he started to sway a little, both Morgan and Som set on to stabilize him with his back against the wall.

"Need anything? What should we do?" Som rapidly questioned.

"Just let him breathe." Morgan advised.

Even though Loki had closed his eyes to have a better focus on his slow inspirations, Morgan could see how intense his frustration was. And she could not blame him for that. It had been three days since their fight against Thanos, and Loki had only woken up twenty hours ago. The speed of his recovery was phenomenal, but still. Morgan could see the large bandage below his shirt, on which he was currently applying pressure. From what she had heard, his ribcage had nearly been reduced to pulp. Same thing for Stark. Who in the right state of mind would ask a guy whose arm had been ripped off to attend a two-hour long meeting about the fate of humanity? Morgan herself was still a little dizzy. Painkillers, obviously. The bruises covering her entire body were monstrous, and she had to take three different medicines a day not to be found drooling on the floor.

Yes, _of course_ drinking alcohol was the best thing they could possibly do to aggravate their case, thank you.

Loki's breath had been reduced to a not so reassuring whistling. His face was marked by pain and he was becoming paler and paler.

"Lie down, maybe?" Som winced.

But evidently, the proud Asgardian vehemently shook his head from left to right, which led Som to roll his eyes.

"If you pass out, your brother will get angry. At us, most probably. And I don't want to die. Again."

Morgan shivered. She could not help it.

 _Som turning to ashes, no more hand to grab, just ashes, ashes on her hand, he was not here anymore, only ashes..._

"Hey." Her friend cut, at the sight of her increasingly frightened look "Hey, Morgan. Morgan. I'm here. Look, I'm here."

Okay. Som was here. Not leaving. Breathe. Better. No ashes.

"Do you have any medication to take, by any chance?" Som anxiously asked Loki.

But the latter could not make any sound, too busy catching air, which was surely feeling like fire in his lungs. Morgan had some cracked ribs as well. But Loki, that was insane, how did he manage to walk, even better, to defend himself against the series of accusations with a perfect composure? Some pressure had probably fallen, and now he was within an inch of fainting.

Suddenly, Morgan saw people coming.

Well, she did not exactly see them. She was indeed able to sense any living creature coming towards her, except now for Som, Loki and Nebula, within a range of approximately fifty metres, and yes, she had indeed measured that once.

"We have another problem." She alerted "T'Challa, Romanov and Doctor Strange incoming."

"Damnit..." Som cursed "Although... I mean, if he's a doctor, maybe he could..."

Loki's furious glance stopped him dead. On his face could easily be read the word NEVER, in red capital letters.

"Right, forget it."

Som put his ring on and waved his hand, creating a familiar golden circle. Then, he maintained Loki by his left arm, which appeared to be quite easy, as they were almost the same height, and Morgan followed them, on the other side of the palace.

* * *

They had arrived in a vast reception room, from where they could see the mesmerizing landscape of Wakanda, through the large glass windows. The place was desert. The light of the sun, at the end of the afternoon, was tinting the floor in orange. Several long tables were placed against the walls, with a large number of chairs piled up in the corners.

"How do you even know that place?" Morgan asked him.

"When the two of you were passed out, I was bored, so I visited."

Som was trying his best not to make brisk moves, but Loki's laborious breath was not helping him keeping his cool.

"This way." Morgan indicated, walking towards a door and letting it open.

They entered a kitchen, similar to the one where they had talked with Rocket, sipping honey-wine, but much larger. Perfect. Loki sat, rather, fell, on a chair, and she did not lose time opening the fridge.

"Uh, Morgan, maybe a _bit_ later?" Som suggested, as she was rummaging into the freezer.

"Need a plastic bag." She mumbled.

The Indian opened every cupboard he could see, as she was pulling out a pack of ice cubes. Once all were in the bag Som had handed her, she carefully opened Loki's shirt and applied it on his bandage.

The sudden contact of the cold made his eyes widen a little, but the effect was immediate. He stopped wincing out of pain, and his inspirations became deeper, more controlled.

"Thank you." He whispered, with a feeble smile.

Morgan sighed out of relief. Not resisting a sudden impulsion, she leaned towards him and kissed him. He certainly did not protest, judging by the contact of his hand on her neck.

No adequate words to describe the sensation of his lips against hers. It actually was the first time they kissed since they had awakened. Everything had passed at the speed of light, since then. But now, they could take their time. Correction, they would take their time.

"Not in front of the kids." Som giggled, derisively turning his back on them.

"Indian clown." Morgan mocked.

"French perv." He retorted.

"Midgardians." Loki smirked.

"Hey, that's low blow." Som laughed.

* * *

"We should start with _Saa-Malu_." Som suggested.

"Saint-Malo." Morgan chuckled.

Som's Indian accent was only perceptible when he was trying to pronounce proper nouns (he had never truly managed to say hers, pronouncing " _Diu-ma_ " instead of the much flatter French vowel "u").

"What is special about this place?" Loki inquired.

"The city. The sea." Morgan enumerated "The crepes, as someone was about to point out."

"I can't get it out of my mind." Som hypocritically apologized "You're sure there's not enough here for you to make some?"

"First, yes I am sure." Morgan asserted "Second, I make crepes when I want to. And third, if other people arrive, we would be forced to share them."

"Ugh, everything but that."

The three of them were nonchalantly settled around one of the tables, which they had disposed in the middle of the room, eating what they had found in the kitchen; not much except some dried meat, which Som was not touching, and rice, which he had set on to prepare, reminding Morgan that her way to cook rice was not even one. Meh.

"Angkor Vat temples." She suggested.

"Oh, nice one. Let's see... I know! Pompei."

Both of them burst out laughing. Soon after, Loki let out an exasperated sigh.

"Not that I love to interrupt your verbal jousting, but what is it exactly about?"

"We are currently debating which places on Earth we have to show you first, and he just suggested a Roman city frozen in time since a volcano killed all of its inhabitants." Morgan summed up.

"You know me so well." Loki grinned, which did not do anything to stop their giggles "But do you truly think it will be that simple?"

"What do you mean?" Som questioned, still half-laughing.

"Oh, a minor detail, really. I may have caused a bit of disorder on your planet, recently."

"Which was not very nice." Som commented.

"I truly start to wonder if you are not taking any kind of psychedelic substance on a daily basis."

"I don't know, maybe it's the giant euphoria to realize that I am not a barbecue anymore. And yes, I am always like that. She can confirm."

"He is always like that." Morgan solemnly nodded.

"Tremendous. How can you even imagine that anyone here will let me go where I wish to go?"

They stayed silent for a moment. Indeed, problems were far from being over.

"You will stay with Thor, right?" Morgan guessed.

Loki hesitated a little before answering.

"I have let my brother down too many times." He admitted.

"Yeah, fraternal relations..." Som sighed.

"But they do not have anything to charge neither of you with." Loki pointed out.

"You never know, they may invent one soon enough." Morgan smirked "But it would clearly not be enough to discourage me from coming with you."

At the sight of Loki's face, mostly marked by incredulity, she felt a wave of apprehension down her back. Was he actually willing to let her accompany him?

" _If you want me."_

Loki's voice resonated not in the room but in her head. She looked at him with a genuine smile. What was he thinking, that she would suddenly decide to leave him?

Judging by the look in his eyes, he seemed to have understood her answer. Next, Morgan turned her head to Som.

"No, that's out." He declared "I'm not joining the space-Vikings. But that doesn't mean we won't see each other again."

"Sure." Morgan approved "We might even meet again where we first met."

An even wider smile appeared on her friend's face. Of course, how could he forget. And how could _she_ forget. She still had the bump on the back of her head.

"The piano down the stairs?" She asked.

"The piano down the stairs. I bet that still hurts."

"I desperately want to know the story." Loki insisted.

"You will." Som beamed "By the way, when I think about it... Tell me if I am wrong Morgan, because I am far from being as knowledgeable as you when it comes to snakes, but the nicknames we took, Adder, Taipan and Naja... Very different reptiles and all part of the Cobra family."

"Indeed..." Morgan smiled, not even having noticed the coincidence before "So, what does that make us? A really weird, unlikely family?"

"Good enough." Loki shrugged.

* * *

"You look well, brother." Thor greeted.

"If by well you mean not agonizing, then by all means I must be." Loki sarcastically answered.

Despite their quips, the atmosphere was far from being tensed; not long ago, Thor and Valkyrie, accompanied by the Guardians of the Galaxy, had entered the dining room in which they had found refuge, and the best thing was, they had brought some liquid courage with them. And were presently enjoying them with Som, Morgan and Loki. Thor had even opened a flask of what he had presented as Asgardian spirits, but as soon as he had opened it, even standing at a fait distance, Morgan had taken two steps backwards. She did not know what truly was in this bottle but she would happily drink nitro-glycerine if presented with a choice of both.

She especially appreciated the Guardians. This group was weird, but weird in the way she liked. An incoherent, beautiful patchwork.

"So, do you plan on staying on Earth a little? Or it's back to Space as soon as possible?" Som inquired.

"The Iron-Person seems eager to help us designing a new ship." Mantis told him.

Iron-Person. Seriously.

"What about you, I don't get who you are, I mean you don't look like you're with the Avengers." Rocket added.

"Definitely not." Som grinned "I already have a full-time job. And I have no super-power, except stealing people's money and making it legal."

Morgan wondered if she should start thinking about dead kittens not to end up laughing on the floor.

"Are all Midgardians like that?" Morgan heard Valkyrie whisper.

"Don't think so." Thor uneasily replied.

"Which is a pity." Morgan eagerly added "So, tell me; what should we expect from the rest of the Avengers? A handshake or an armlock?"

"I never thought I would equally wish for both." Valkyrie sneered.

Morgan innocently smiled back at her, accepting the glass the Asgardian was handing. Some kind of beer, fortunately, no liquid nuclear explosion.

"Depends on which Avenger you're referring to." Thor admitted "But at least, they understood that you were not going to manipulate anyone anymore."

"Well, that is fortunate." Morgan ironically sighed.

"Still..." Thor lowered his voice, so that only Loki, Morgan and Valkyrie could hear him, which was not very hard anyway, as the Guardians were busy talking to Som "You told me you were aware of Thanos' existence months before... Why did you not..."

"This is not that simple, brother." Loki cut.

"Let me show you." Morgan declared, putting her drink down "Som, I need your acting skills."

"The ones I don't have?"

"Precisely."

Morgan hawked a little and walked towards her friend, who was giggling already.

"Hello officer, my name is Morgan and I happen to have psychic powers enabling me to visit a dimension out of space and time, where I accidentally met Loki, yes, the Loki who brought this army of aliens in New-York, six years ago. From what he told me, there is another alien, but a purple one this time, who wants to exterminate half of the Universe, which is a pretty crappy way to save it if you ask me, by completing a collection of six shining rocks. So, he might arrive on Earth soon, in weeks, months, don't know exactly, but if there was a way to contact Thor, who doesn't have any way to be contacted, it would be nice."

Som looked at her, she looked at him, he looked at Loki and extended his hand towards him.

"Taser?"

Next, Morgan and Som were crying laughing on each other's shoulder, under the dumbfounded look of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

"What the _hell_..." Peter Quill mumbled.

"The worst is, they are actually sober." Rocket pointed out "Just so you know, getting both of you drunk is a must do in my life."

"Fine, we get the concept." Valkyrie said.

"I was completely serious!" Morgan insisted "Just imagine me trying to contact Tony Stark with that; I would have ended up in a straightjacket."

Evidently, she was only half-serious. She could have used her power and made everyone believe her and agree with her. She could have. But could she have gotten Loki out of Whatever-its-name?

Mh.

The best was Thor's look, though. Morgan supposed he had been thinking something like _my brother has Midgardian friends, this is fortunate, he will probably slow down on his schemes and tricks_ , but now he was probably having a severe reality check, in the form of _actually they are even worse than him_.

"Some still consider the option." Shuri joked behind her.

The princess of Wakanda had almost surprised Morgan. True, the mix of numbness and frenzy created by the combination of alcohol and medication (she was going to severely cop it the next morning) was not the best cocktail to sharpen her awareness.

Shuri looked quite relaxed as well, not protesting at all when seeing them taking it easy in one of the palace dining rooms. She actually seemed eager to join them, and headed towards Morgan and Som, as Loki and Thor were still conversing with the Guardians.

"My apologies, for going bananas earlier on." Som told her "I did not mean to shout at everyone like that. Maybe just at half of the room, let's say a third..."

Shuri's eyes were already shining with amusement.

"After all that happened, everyone's nerves are a mess." She wisely admitted "Actually, I think I'd be even more worried if everyone was perfectly keeping his cool."

"So, no judgement if I break down in tears then burst out laughing two minutes later?"

"I think that'll make us two." She nervously giggled.

"In that case..." He raised his glass "To mental havoc."

"And to being alive." Shuri smiled back "Is your name really Som?"

"I am afraid so. A world of endless puns in every existing language."

"Awesome."

Som should not have taken a sip of his drink at the moment, Morgan noticed. The next second, he was choking on it, under Shuri's playful gaze.

"One is making an impression." Morgan said in Hindi.

"Shut up, Froggy." Som replied in English, a wide smile on his face.

"You are best friends, aren't you?" Shuri inquired.

"To the death and beyond." Morgan nodded, clinking her glass against Som's.

Shuri did not add anything, too busy staring at her with a look that was displaying both admiration and curiosity. Of all the people Morgan and Loki had fooled, Shuri probably was the only one not holding the slightest grudge. Morgan could almost hear the rumble of questions she had in mind. As for Som, his eyes swiftly alternated between both of them, until he could not resist anymore;

"One of the biggest regrets of my life will be not to have seen you showing up here with a venomous snake on your shoulder and saying don't worry mate, everything is fine."

"This is remarkably accurate." Loki commented, right behind him.

"For the love of…! Don't scare me like that!" Som exclaimed, rather, what Morgan thought Som exclaimed, as he had just spoken in Bengali, which she did not know a word of.

"Are you really able to take anyone's appearance?" Shuri inquired, now focused on Loki.

"Pretty much." Illusion-Shuri winked, which left the princess of Wakanda speechless.

"This is incredible…" She complimented, which was obviously followed by a smug smile on Loki's face "Asgardian magic… There is _so much_ to discover…"

"Don't forget quantum energy." Morgan tranquilly reminded "That's a lot of discoveries, these days."

"Talking about discoveries, look, Captain 'Murica!" Som informed.

Hilarity was contagious. Morgan saw that Loki had put his hand on his chest and was doing his best to breathe slower, without managing to refrain his smile. His ribs were probably warning him not to laugh too much.

"What's his name already, the guy next to him, who looks like a sad heavy-metal player?"

"Buchanan… Barnes…" Shuri articulated, between two silent bursts of laughter.

"He referred to mind control, earlier." Loki recalled "Why so?"

"That's a long story." Shuri sighed "You'd better ask him directly."

"Couldn't come at a better time, I've got something to ask him and Captain Democracy. Be right back." Som smiled, before politely nodding at Shuri, who could not even breathe anymore, then taking his leave.

* * *

"I have to confess something; for long, I have dreamed of an occasion to meet you."

"Here we go." Morgan laughed.

"Come on, you would do the same if you were me." Som replied, before turning back to Rogers and Barnes, who were still a little confused "I mean, technically, you lived most of your life in 1930s New-York, didn't you? When Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis were actual _living_ legends, right?"

Morgan regretted not to have any phone or whatever she could take a picture with. Rogers' and Barnes' faces were priceless. They had probably expected everything but an Indian man asking them about the three most famous jazz musicians of pre-World War II New-York.

That was Som for you. And Steve Rogers was the fastest to react, a smile of bewilderment and nostalgia on his lips.

"God, it brought me back right there." He mumbled, looking at his friend, who was displaying the same positively astonished look.

"Same. Seems like a century ago." Barnes chuckled nervously, as it was almost the case, before genuinely smiling at Som "December 23rd, 1938."

Som's eyes widened and his jaw gaped open. She braced herself. Even she could tell what this precise day meant, due to her friend's lectures on _at least the very basics, Morgan,_ of piano jazz, and she knew that he was not going to stop talking for the next two hours. Good luck Barnes, good luck Rogers.

"No way." Was her friend's only response "No. Actual. Way."

Captain America and the man apparently nicknamed the Winter Soldier just silently acquiesced.

" _The_ December 23rd, 1938? _The_ Carnegie Hall? _The_ concert?" He articulated.

"We waited for... I don't even know how long, to get a seat." Barnes explained "That was a lifetime event."

"I bet it was!" Som exclaimed "I still can't... You were _there_! The real ' _From Spirituals to Swing_ '! This is... Insane!"

"It was." Barnes acknowledged "So, you play, I guess?"

"A little."

"Ha ha." Morgan calmly reacted.

"Alright, I don't want to brag or anything, but I am officially known as the god of piano and, how to put it, jazz is my jam."

Som could brag as much as he wanted, because he was right, Morgan admitted. He loved to play piano jazz. He was a virtuoso at it. Not what one would instantly think about anyone from India, and the look of the two American soldiers in front of him had been one among countless similar reactions. But now, Som was overwhelmed with excitation. Him and Barnes started a lively conversation about too specific topics for Morgan to be involved in it.

"It's been ages since once of us was actually asked a question of that kind." Rogers tranquilly admitted, standing next to her.

"Was that an unpleasant thing, Mr Rogers?" She taunted.

The appellation seemed to surprise him a little. Morgan had expected that. She was almost certain that he could read on her face _military hierarchy, it exists and that's a good start_. However, he did not look especially offended either.

"Definitely not." He replied.

They stayed silent for a few seconds, watching with amusement the passionate conversation between Som and Barnes. Obviously, Morgan noticed that Rogers' gaze was deviating towards Loki, still discussing with Shuri, on the other side of the room.

"I guess you won't tell us the truth anytime soon." He sighed, though with no resentment in his voice.

"You guessed right." Morgan proudly smiled "Although I don't know if it would even make any difference."

"It could." Rogers sincerely spoke "It would."

It took some time for her to realize what he had just insinuated.

"Are you seriously suggesting that we could join the Avengers?"

"Believe it or not." Captain America smiled, on a cheerful tone that was unfamiliar to Morgan.

"In all honesty, I don't share your opinion." She tranquilly added "Plus, saving the world is not something I would be keen on doing on a daily basis. You don't receive anything for this, except some rare thanks, but most of the time, people just remind you that you owe them money."

"But you have these powers." Rogers cut "I saw what you are capable of. Don't you think you can do much more?"

Morgan took a sip of her drink before answering. He wanted explanations? We would have explanations.

"Indeed, you have seen what I am capable of. I am not a fighter, Mr Rogers. What I can do is modify people's emotions. First, I could very much join your team. I could help you find a criminal, and then make him so afraid he could not fight anymore. Or maybe so remorseful he would walk directly to court. And then, people would hear about it. That would frighten them. Perhaps not to the point of locking me in a laboratory and dissect my brain, but all my actions would be controlled, anytime, anywhere. Not the life I want."

"So, what exactly do you want?" He defied "Constantly run away from the consequences of your actions?"

"Ha! That's one of the world's favourite sentences!" She exclaimed, eager to continue the conversation "Actions have consequences. Take your responsibilities. Do your duty. In short, follow the rules."

"Hm. You advocate individual freedom, yet you have no problem imposing your will on others." He pointed out.

Morgan was starting to truly enjoy it. She had to admit; she had been wrong about Steve Rogers. Not that she had thought he was a moron, okay, maybe just a little, a very little, but she had not expected him to underline the contradictions in her own opinion. That was fun.

"You seem well placed to mention this." She retorted "Whatever you invoke, from the greater good to moral principles, brings you back to your own judgement, nothing else. Any value you take as universal and eternal is only local and temporary."

"You remind me of someone." Rogers smirked, after a moment of silence.

"Would that someone be a giant purple alien we ended up microwaving a little too long?"

 _And now he wants to laugh, look at that, he's desperately trying to refrain it, come on Morgan, you're almost there._

"Am I, really?" She insisted, not vexed the slightest "I just lack one or two doses of godlike complex, but why not, after all."

"You honestly think life is meaningless?" He continued, not managing to hide his smile anymore.

"I think life is meaningful. Rather, full of meanings. No one is right, so no one is wrong either. Some people are terrified by this. I find it amazing."

"Is it due to your powers?"

"Maybe. Or maybe I just have different values than yours. For example, there are people in this world who believe putting pineapple on a pizza is a good idea, and, well, they are still alive, I respect that."

He burst out laughing. Morgan gave herself a high-five.

"Same for Loki." She continued "Not that he has anything to do with pineapple pizza, although I am starting to have terrible doubts right now, but he took lives and yet, he is still alive. Even though he saved countless people, should he have died? You know, the so-called 'only in death can you find redemption', that sort of thing?"

He took a moment to answer, probably recalling some memories.

"If he had died, neither you nor him would be here today. Neither would most of us." He finally said.

"My point, exactly. Life and death are one thing, not two, and therefore Thanos was a fool to think he could get rid of death without getting rid of life as well."

Steve Rogers did not add anything, slowly sipping his drink instead. His gaze diverted again towards Bucky Barnes, who was still more than eager to answer Som's amazed enquiries.

"If I may, I think you should take a break." Morgan bluntly told.

"A break?" Rogers frowned.

"From these Avengers' never-ending duties. You saved the whole Universe, right? Nice touch on your CV, now you can afford a gap year."

He let out a little laugh of disbelief.

"I take back what I just said; you are nothing like Thanos."

"I don't even know if I should take it as a compliment."

"Take it the way you want." He suggested "Different values, right?"

"You got me." Morgan chuckled, raising her glass "But I will have my revenge."

"I'll be ready."

Morgan swallowed what remained of her drink, a genuine smile on her lips. Sometimes, she really liked to be wrong.

* * *

It was the look in her eyes that alerted her.

Morgan had already seen this gaze, in others, or in a mirror. If it had to be given a name, it would be something like _imminent explosion, either I leave this room either I kill everyone in it, and kill myself after_.

She followed her. Probably not the wisest decision. _Definitely_ not the wisest decision. Oh, well. Since when was she making wise decisions, after all?

Nebula had not gone far away from the dining room. She had opted for the nearest balcony, and was now immobile, her back against the wall and her head as well. In the semi-obscurity of the twilight, Morgan could still see that Nebula's eyes were now closed, but that her face was marked by intense pain.

"Go away." The cyborg murmured.

Morgan paused. She was still well able to hear the joyful noises of the party, behind her. After all, she could very well leave. But something lingered in her mind, not much, just a sentence, some words Nebula had hastily pronounced when she...

" _Complete nonsense! Isn't that what you're proud of?!"_

When she had been plunged in the dark.

When Thanos had used the Reality Stone to make her _blind_.

Morgan shivered. That moment... Hearing the battle but not seeing it, knowing that she was there but not being actually there...

"I don't really want to go away." She declared.

The directness of her tone seemed to surprise Nebula greatly. However, a few seconds later, she reverted back to aggressiveness.

"I don't _care_ about what you want!" She snapped "I told you to go away!"

Morgan nodded. Insisting could make things worse. And she was not really wishing for things to get worse. So, she turned around and set on to join the others. Unexpectedly, she heard Nebula's voice again.

"Gamora is not coming back, is she?"

She was now sitting on the floor, her elbows resting on her knees, and her eyes still closed. Apprehension took hold of Morgan's stomach.

What to reveal? The truth? A lie? A partial lie only?

"I talked to her." Morgan decided to say "In the Soul World. But she was not entirely herself."

"Not _entirely_ herself?" Nebula frowned.

"Only a part of her soul was trapped there. She... did not want to leave."

Contrary to what Morgan had expected, the blue-skinned woman did not need anymore explanations. She seemed to have understood all too well.

"That dear Thanos..." She sniggered "Even turned to dust, he hits hard."

A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"For years, I tortured and killed." Nebula continued "For him. To have a chance to be his daughter. Then, I had a glimpse of what it means, to be a sister."

She took a long, deep look at her left hand, made of a metal Morgan could not name.

"And now, what do I have?" She sighed.

Morgan sat next to her, without a word. So, that was Nebula's life. Longing for approval, and seeing it vanish the moment she finally touched it. For most of her life, she had lived on hate and fear. And now that everything was over, now that Thanos was gone, now that Gamora was gone, what could she do? Who could she be?

"Friends?" Morgan suggested.

Nebula gave her a look of utter disbelief.

"No one looks at me and sees a friend." She spat.

"What makes you so sure of that?"

Nebula did not reply. The sun had almost disappeared, behind the forest of Wakanda, an enchanting image no one seemed to get tired of. Morgan, still looking at Nebula, remained equally silent for a moment.

"I had a sister too." She hesitantly started "A twin sister. But I never actually knew her."

"What do you mean?" Nebula interrogated, confused.

Words blocked in Morgan's throat.

 _Say it. Face it. Come on, you cannot go back, you never could. You had a sister, when you were born. And then, what did you do?_

"I killed her." She whispered, on a barely audible tone "And not even once."

"How can you kill someone more than once?" The cyborg winced.

"Ask Loki." Morgan could not help replying, truly relieved to see a smirk on Nebula's face "And ask the Soul Stone."

She saw Nebula clenching her metal fist. Gamora. Dead and undead. Alive and lifeless. Was there still a Gamora?

 _Is there still a Vivian?_

"The Soul Stone wanted a host. It could have been her. It was me, still an unborn child." Morgan explained, very clearly this time "But when I was born, I took more than air."

"You took your sister's life." Nebula deduced, with no trace of reproach in her voice.

"But in a twisted, perverted way." Morgan hissed "I took her soul with me. I kept it. I guess a part of me just wanted to... eat her, draw strength from her. But another part of me..."

"... Just wanted a sister." Nebula completed.

And _that_ was it.

"This is... pretty pathetic..." Morgan observed, furiously wiping the tears, which were not stopping "I'm the one playing tough... and..."

She pressed her hand against her eyes, silently crying. Nebula was not saying anything. Not moving either.

"Guess I realized it, when I grew up." Morgan continued, giving up on trying to repress her grief "That there had never been any Vivian. Just me... imagining what could have been, creating the sister whom I had always heard about. Lying to myself."

" _Does she know what sudden infant death syndrome is?"_

She had always known Vivian was dead. And yet... What had made her attach a part of her soul to her own? What had made her imagine with so much accuracy the sister she had always yearned for?

" _She is, was, your twin, after all."_

Morgan closed her eyes again, feeling new sobs coming.

"I n-never..." She stammered "I never wanted to kill her... I wanted to..."

 _To kill myself._

Burning tears on her cheek. Mourning Vivian, who never had a chance to exist. Mourning her mother, who had become a shadow of what she had once been. Mourning her father, who had, in a way, loved her.

A sudden contact between her shoulders made her start with surprise. When she turned her head, she saw that Nebula had carefully put her arm on her back. It was easy to see that she had never attempted to comfort anyone before, and that she was trying to remember a gesture she had vaguely heard about, wondering whether or not she was doing it the right way.

Little by little, the tears stopped. Morgan genuinely smiled at Nebula, whose hand, even made of metal, was giving her all the warmth that she needed at the moment. Alright, she was still sad. But she was also feeling much better. So, she stood up and extended her hand at the cyborg.

"You come? I am still far from having drank enough." She suggested.

Nebula grabbed her hand.

"You might regret to have said that." She grinned.

Morgan playfully shrugged.

"I'll take the risk."

 _Oh boy, how far I've gone..._

* * *

It was the middle of the night and almost everyone had left the room, temporarily or not. Shuri, Rogers and Barnes had left, but the Guardians, along with Som, Thor and Valkyrie, had gone to look for more supplies. Morgan and Loki were almost alone in the room. Almost.

How had he managed to spot the room they were in- alright, they were actually doing a lot of noise, but why had he decided to show up at this exact moment?

Clint Barton had just put two small lozenges in two full glasses of water, and was now sliding them on the table in front of them.

"What is that?" Morgan finally questioned, poorly managing to conceal her astonished look.

"I told you that if we made it out of this battle alive, I'd pay your drinks. I'm a man of my word." Barton calmly explained.

Alright. Even drunk, or on drugs, or both, Morgan would not have imagined such a situation. She looked at Loki, he looked at her, they looked at their glass, with the same expression of bewilderment.

"Well... Thanks." Morgan added "Hey, isn't that painkill-"

She could not finish her sentence, as Barton had just delivered a monumental punch at Loki's face, which was followed by the very characteristic sound of a broken nose, then the one of a not very glorious fall on the floor, knocking some chairs over in the process. Morgan spotted the reason for the man's unnatural strength around his right hand: the two remaining rings of her Vibranium knuckle duster were still shining a little. Obviously, she had guessed what was coming next. She had absolutely no chance of avoiding the next blow, which came in the form of Barton's left phalanxes right in the middle of her face.

Next, Morgan was in recovery position on the floor, explaining in many details the relation between Barton's sexuality and mountain bears.

"Now, we're even." She heard the archer say, before a cling close to her ears indicated that he had dropped the half-knuckle-duster at his feet.

Wow, that shit hurt. Hurt like in _hurt_. This motherfucker knew how to break noses, and he took advantage of the long thirty seconds during which Morgan and Loki were unable to do anything else than wriggling on the ground and insulting him in colourful fashion to wisely step away.

Loki straightened up first, his left hand still pressing against his face and his eyes shining with fury.

"Gonna kill him." He articulated.

Morgan did not add anything, as both of them knew it was not in their range of possibilities. She wiped the blood of her face and seized the glass Barton had handed her. At least, it really was painkillers. Gross.


	50. Fuck it

Loki did not know how long he stayed under the hot water. Seconds were as meaningless as hours. He repeatedly passed his hands in his hair, trying to think about anything else than the multiple new scars he could feel under his fingers. Seven days had passed since the battle against Thanos, and he had finally regained some freedom of movement; his natural resistance, combined with treatments based on quantum healing particles, had already allowed him to withdraw the bandages covering his chest, as well as his right arm, which he had been more than relieved to do. His body was nonetheless covered with various marks, and he still had to be careful with his freshly repaired ribs.

Of course, this was not the first time he had been hurt. Yet, this fight was different. Every wound, be it mental or physical, would be much harder to live with than all the others he had previously received. Even the one on his torso. He could not refrain a weak smile when he brushed it. Maybe Thor had bought that everything had been an umpteenth illusion, but the fact was, Loki had been really lucky. The Kurse's weapon, as impressive as it looked, had missed his vital organs. When he had awoken, he had grabbed the occasion that presented to him. Seriously, who would not have done it? What should he have done, instead? Docilely crawl back to his cell on Asgard? But, funnily enough, Loki could see a striking parallel between that day, when he avenged his mother's death and rushed to save Thor, and the one where he foolishly tried to attack Thanos. His life, and most probably his death, was and would be made of inconsequent impulsions.

Water flowed on his face. Loki shivered. He got out of the shower and stared at the mirror in front of him.

These nine little scars around his lips were the only thing he could see. They were burning him. Burning with shame, burning with fear, burning with rage. He had tried everything to make them disappear, in vain. The Reality Stone had done a good work.

Loki methodically brushed his skin with his index, setting the illusion again. Flawless. No one knew. No one would ever know. Most of all, she would never know. Would she ever want to kiss those lips again, if it was the case?

"Hello there."

Her voice made him startle. Loki briskly turned around to see Morgan, nonchalantly leaning against the door, a teasing smile on her face. Everything in her gesture indicated that she had just arrived. Surely, she did not have the time to see him...

"Do you often sneak in bathrooms?" He replied, with a tone he wanted to make detached.

Morgan calmly stepped forward. She was taking her (good) time observing him. He had made the job easy for her, as he had not bothered to put any clothe on.

"Only when you are in them." She winked.

However, her smile progressively disappeared, as she had evidently noticed Loki's uneasiness.

"Am I interrupting you?"

Sometimes, Loki wished she was less insightful. Worse, at the moment, he did not know what to say. He still felt like his entire body was screaming out loud the humiliating tortures he had endured.

"You are not. I just finished." He simply replied.

"Perfect. If you want to start something else..." She playfully suggested, coming closer to him.

Her hand caressed his neck. Instinctively, Loki moved his head. Images were not stopping before his eyes. Being strangled. Being punched. Being _sewn_...

These wounds were not the ones warriors could be proud of. They were to be hidden, not shown. Loki let out an ironical laugh. His very body was nothing but another illusion. Another lie.

"Loki, what's the matter? Is it something I have said or done?"

She was visibly worried now. Of course.

"No, this has nothing to do with you. I wish to be alone for a moment." He coldly answered, grabbing his clothes to illustrate his statement.

He could bear to see Morgan worried, although he did not like it by any means. But seeing her pitying him... Or even worse, afraid... _Disgusted_...

"Yeah, right. No way." She suddenly intervened.

"What makes you say so?" Loki snapped, although he already knew the answer.

"Not hard for me to see that you want everything but to be alone. You are not hiding very well, today."

Loki grinned his teeth. In the back of his skull, rage was roaring like a storm. Suddenly, he rushed towards her and slammed his hands on the wall, on both sides of her head. Morgan's breath stopped. She was surely not expecting such a gesture.

"Not hiding very well?! Tell me then, what do you prefer to see?!" He hissed.

His skin was slowly turning blue. Loki's now red gaze did not leave Morgan's eyes. There was surprise in them, maybe a little apprehension. Loki bit his tongue. Could he, in a fit of anger, hurt her? That would be the ultimate end. Hitting rock bottom and still digging.

He withdrew his hands, feeling even more ashamed than before. Way to go.

"Is Som a woman?" She briskly asked.

Taken completely aback by her answer, Loki genuinely did not know what to say. What was Som doing in the conversation?

"What...? What do you mean?"

"You heard me well. Is Som a woman? He looks like a man, says that he is one, acts like one, feels like one. But after all, he had a woman's body when he was born. So, is he a woman?"

Loki let out a brief sigh of frustration.

"Som has nothing of a woman. I had even forgotten that, which goes to show. But this is not the same thing at all."

"Definitely. You two have nothing in common. So, what actually matters, what you see? Or what others see?"

He did not reply. Actually, he did not want to. The only thing he wanted was that Morgan kept on speaking, to tell him that she would never be ashamed of him, that she would always-

"To answer your question, I _prefer_ to see your Asgardian aspect. Not because your Jotunn appearance is ugly or repulsing. But because you do not feel like yourself when you show it. I prefer to see the entire you."

She slowly started to withdraw her jacket, then her shirt, painstakingly refraining some winces. Loki's eyes widened when he saw her arms and her chest. They were covered with purple, black and yellow bruises. Her uneasiness was as visible as her wounds.

"Your turn." She smirked "What do you see?"

"This... This is entirely different." He stammered.

"I know, it is never the same thing. This may be hideous, but this is still me. It does not matter if you want to change or hide some elements of your body, as long as you are fully you. Stay Loki. _This_ is what I prefer."

His throat was blocked. Not by sadness, but by relief. His skin regained its white colour.

"You are everything but hideous." He asserted.

Morgan smiled wryly, and went to sit on the bathroom sink. Her right hand slid under her pants.

"Am I interrupting you, now?" Loki taunted.

"The real question is, would you interrupt me? I am very busy... Admiring a god right now... And appreciating it..."

Her voice was regularly cut by some panting Loki was delighted to hear. As he had not had the time to put his clothes on, he was still completely naked, his hair dripping with water, and his...

Well, let's say he reacted to her presence.

And of course, Morgan welcomed his reaction. She started to take off her trousers, to ease the movement of her hand. Her golden eyes were more hypnotizing than ever. Loki came forward, advancing his hand to unclasp her bra and help her withdrawing the rest of her clothes. Then, he lowered his hand to his groin and started to caress himself as well.

They did not speak. There was nothing to say. The only thing to do was to look. And yes, did they look. Their gestures were becoming more rapid. How breath-taking it was, to fully enjoy their mutual excitement.

Not only was Morgan beautiful, no matter how many bruises marked her body, but seeing her pleasing herself and aroused by him... Loki felt powerful. Insanely powerful. That was something. He had had many partners, of both sexes, as well as many, how to put it, physical achievements, but no one had ever made him feel so strong that, should he be asked to come back to New York and destroy the city for good, with no army and no weapon but a butter knife, he would just ask if it should be done in the morning or in the afternoon.

Morgan kissed him. He opened his mouth. The scars were still hidden. But they were hidden because he was not thinking about them. They were not part of him. Perhaps he would tell her, one day. Later. For now, he did not need to and did not want to.

His hand ruffled her hair. Loki liked her curls. They made her look both savage and playful. Which she illustrated by biting his ear. He caught hold of her lips in return, remaining careful not to lean too much on her bruises. Their breaths were becoming heavier and heavier. Suddenly, Morgan placed both of her hands on his hips, giving him an enquiring look.

"You want?" She simply asked.

"Why would I _not_ want..." He smiled.

She laughed a little and kneeled in front of him. Then he felt her lips and tongue against him and oh by Hell and the Nine Realms.

He opened his eyes, only at this moment realizing that he had closed them. Not refraining his moans of delight, he grabbed her shoulder tightly. Morgan immediately straightened up with a yelp, which made him realize that he had actually put much more pressure than he should have on her wounds.

"Ouch. Fragile Midgardian here, remember?" She winced, although not angry the slightest.

"S-sorry..." He articulated, as her hand joined his on his groin.

He did not have the time to say more, as he felt an intense surge of pleasure which left him speechless. Orgasms were one of the rare things in the Universe which could shut him up.

As for Morgan, let's say she was enjoying his enjoyment, and knew how to take hers in hand, literally.

By Hell, he was becoming extremely poetic.

When taking a second look at the picture, Loki could not refrain a smirk. Here they were, covered with bruises and scars, having sex against an uncomfortable sink in a bathroom. And it felt _so good_.

But there was even better.

"What are you... thinking about?" Morgan questioned, still a little short of breath.

"The ultimate irony." Loki grinned.

"Which means?"

"That I just climaxed in the Avengers compound."

There you go. Hysterical laughter.

* * *

The thought struck him like thunder.

 _The first thing he felt, before opening his eyes, was a contact against his mouth. A foreign object, made of a matter he did not take the time to identify. Something wrapped around his head, preventing him to speak._

 _Everything came back at once._

 _Thanos. The fight. The pain. His throat slowly crushed. His bones breaking one by one. His lips stitched shut._

 _It had never been over._

 _More torture to come._

 _Sheer desperation made him take a sudden, brutal inspiration, which immediately sent a wave of white-hot pain through his ribcage. He choked, simultaneously realizing that he could not move his right arm at all. What kind of new suffering was awaiting him, this time?_

 _Some sounds started to come to his ears, but Loki did not lose time listening. He urged his left arm to respond and, miraculously, it did. He briskly tore the gag off his face; surprisingly, it did not offer a lot of resistance. Loki threw it across the room, as far away as possible from him._

 _The room. He was in a room. A white room. White walls. White ceiling. No window. No escape. Just white._

 _The infinite whiteness. Complete isolation. Despair. Confusion. Hallucinations._

 _An even sharper pain followed the next inspiration he tried to take, as if thousands of needles were piercing his chest. His head was spinning. He could not breathe. He could not think. He could not..._

" _Loki!"_

 _This voice, he knew this voice. He had known it for a long time._

" _Brother, please, calm down!"_

 _The blurry shapes around him were starting to turn into more precise figures. He finally distinguished the person above him._

 _Thor, he wanted to say, but he did not have enough air to speak. Three times, he tried to make a sound, but it was excruciatingly painful, as if his lungs had lost the ability to accumulate oxygen._

" _This was helping you breathe." Thor calmly explained, showing him the curious mask which he had just withdrawn._

 _Loki shook his head from left to right, to make Thor understand that never would he accept to put this thing on again, no matter how disagreeable the consequences would be. So, he set on to take smaller and smaller inspirations, fighting against the urge to gasp, but progressively feeling the burning sensations in his chest diminish._

 _Thor did not insist, which was unusual of him, Loki could not help thinking. The god of Thunder was sat on a chair, on his right. He looked well. At least, better than him. But Loki was only half-reassured. All of this could very well be a dream. A hallucination. A lie._

" _W-where..." He painstakingly managed to articulate._

 _Where am I, where are we, where is Thanos, where is everyone, Morgan, where is Morgan?!_

" _We are back." Thor started to explain, visibly not knowing where he should start "We are in Wakanda, do you remember? The fight is over."_

 _Loki was pretty sure his older brother could easily read disbelief in his eyes. He could barely speak, not even move. How to be sure that all of this was real?_

 _Suddenly, Thor did a gesture that Loki would never have expected to see again. The last time his brother had done that, it was years ago, before... Before everything, really._

 _He had just seized his left forearm, not rashly, but firmly nonetheless, the way he always did when making a promise or swearing an oath. Loki had always found that token quite stupid, sometimes downright over-the-top, however, at the moment, it was taking an entirely different signification._

 _But it was when his brother smiled, not the kind of awkward beam he displayed from time to time, but a small, sincere expression, that Loki realized he was real, and everything else too. He did not even need him to speak, but Thor did so anyway._

" _I'm here."_

He was here.

Someone knew.

He opened his eyes, perfectly woken up.

What a _moron_ he was.

He was here. Thor was here. Loki wanted to punch himself, just a little. His brother was _here_ , for the Norns' sake, how could he be clearer than that?!

And, obviously, someone knew.

 _Of course_ , someone knew! How could he have forgotten the moment where...

In the darkness of the bedroom, Loki let out a slight sigh of apprehension. Even thinking about it was making him nervous. Alright. Calm down. Maybe it was a terrible idea, but...

" _But nothing, god of Crazy Ideas."_

He immediately turned his head towards Morgan, only to realize that she was still sleeping soundly. Her breath was slow and barely audible. Only her head and her right hand were visible, under the bedsheets wrapped around her body (Loki had noticed that not only was she talking in her sleep, but she was also moving, sometimes hitting, sometimes kicking, a real fight, but most of the time, taking the entire blanket for herself, oh dear, resting by her side was going to be a challenge).

Fine, so he was just hearing her voice in his head, then. Very encouraging.

But Mind-Morgan was right, good idea, bad idea, did not matter. The only thing that mattered was that now, he had this idea in mind and could not let it go.

He rose up from the bed and silently put his clothes on, not to wake her up, then walked towards the window. Just a second after he opened it, a drowsy but very recognizable voice interrupted his chain of thoughts.

"Where are you going?" Morgan asked, for real this time.

She had raised her head a little from the bed, probably deliberating with herself about whether or not she was currently dreaming. The chilly air coming from outside helped a little. From where he was standing, Loki could clearly see her naked chest, pale under the moonlight, and notice that her nipples had already hardened under the sudden coolness.

 _Later_.

"For a fly." He smirked.

She smiled back, visibly not worried the slightest. Next, Loki jumped out of the window.

* * *

Where to start?

Loki had two ideas, but they could easily be combined into one word; talking. Yes, the only thing which he would never have imagined to apprehend.

Talking to Thor, evidently. Loki could still not believe it. He had spent months trapped in a white, empty space, countless times thinking about what he would do if he ever saw his brother again, and now that he was out, he was just doing... Nothing. The worst was, Thor had surely guessed his uneasiness. Morgan had told him many things, but she had told him what _she_ had seen, what _she_ had done. On the one hand, Loki was glad she had not narrated everything. On the other hand, Loki was upset she had not narrated everything.

This conversation was going to be... To be. No adjective needed here.

The funniest thing was, of the two ideas, that one was probably the easiest.

Talking to the only person who knew, and had not told _anyone_. Or maybe he had told everyone, but in that case, every single person here was not taking this more than perfect opportunity to either ridicule or pity him. He could have. He could very well have, after all. But no, not a word. Clint Barton had literally broken his nose with his own knucle-duster, but just a scornful reminder in front of everyone, which would have been far more destructive, about his mouth sewn shut under Thanos' torture, well, not a trace.

So, where to start?

Perhaps with enjoying the fly as an eagle again.

It was the first time he was shapeshifting since the battle. Actually, he had not used his powers a lot, save for the illusion concealing the scars around his mouth, hoping that this would appear as an additional guarantee of his... Honesty? Benevolence? Good faith?

Ugh. None of these words sounded appealing. In any case, some of the Avengers had taken a break from being utter fools, accepting (with bad grace, but accepting nonetheless) that Morgan and him had been crucial to saving the day. Therefore, eagle-Loki was currently flying above the Avengers compound. Most of them, along with the Guardians of the Galaxy and, evidently, Morgan and Loki, had travelled there two days ago. The idea was Stark's, and the reason for that was to annoy as much as possible a man named _Rose_ , but Loki did not remember exactly. The principle was quite simple; wait until everyone had fully recovered to announce the entire story. Wise deduction, given the tension of their first meeting.

Many of those Loki had encountered in Wakanda had already left, from the Midgardian wizard, which Loki was not going to miss, to the Ant and his relatives, as well as, more unfortunately, Som. The Indian had smartly deduced that staying too long among the Earth's mightiest heroes, who had the regrettable tendency to stick their nose into everyone else's business, would do him no good. Loki could only approve. However, although a part of him had regretted to see Som leave so early, another one had spotted what he strongly suspected to be numerous coded sentences between Morgan and him, leaving no doubt that he would probably see the god of Piano sooner than later.

But Loki's main concern, tonight, was his brother. Thor was sharing his time between the Avengers' domain and taking care of the Asgardians still in Wakanda. The only thing now was to find him, as well as the courage to...

Well, well!

Eagle-Loki had raised quite high in the sky, partly for the pleasure of feeling the wind against his feathers, but also because from where he was, he had an acute overview of the entire property. And if Thor was nowhere to be seen yet, it was not the case of Stark.

The Midgardian engineer was standing on the balcony of what Loki recalled was his private apartments, alone. The god of Mischief could even distinguish the shape of the glass his right hand was holding.

Loki would never have imagined to attain such a peak of procrastination.

He silently swooped down on the top of the building, inwardly smiling, as Stark still had his back on him. Now, what was the best way to-

"Never thought I would say that out loud, but can you get down from my roof, Loki?"

Mmh. More perceptive than he had thought.

"So, that's your technique, when you can't sleep? You turn into a bird, fly around, maybe eat a couple of rodents?" Stark teased, as he was landing in front of him, taking back his usual aspect.

"Correct. I especially enjoy becoming a crow and pecking the eyes of the hanged men." Loki sneered, with a very convincing sadistic smile, which effect was surely upgraded by the pale light of the moon.

The little flicker of doubt shining in the Iron Man's eyes was so satisfying.

"Sweet dreams, kids..." Stark grinned "Can you also transform _other people_?"

"Anyone in mind?" Loki playfully suggested, arms crossed, his back against the wall.

A very vivid memory came back to the god of Mischief's mind, the excitement he had felt from time to time when putting his ideas into operation (generally involving Thor, especially that time where he had turned him into a frog, and he remembered facing Odin, who was shouting with so much fury that the walls of the royal palace were trembling, with Loki tranquilly admitting that Thor or a frog, in terms of speech, it was not making any difference).

"More than you can count." Stark smirked, before finishing the amber-coloured liquid his glass was containing "Anyway, what are you up to?"

Loki shrugged evasively. The Midgardian did not insist. His eyes were conveying the same uneasiness that he was presently feeling, and it was a safe bet to say that Stark had also guessed it. After all, he had good reasons not to sleep as well.

Stark put his glass on the small table at the junction between the entrance and the balcony, next to a half-full bottle, and went inside, for approximately five seconds, to come back with another similar recipient. He poured a generous amount of what Loki read was whisky in both glasses, and handed him the one he had just taken. The Asgardian stared at him with an interrogating look.

"No armour on." Stark began "No mind-control drumstick. Might as well take the risk, right?"

"I suppose." Loki nodded, seizing the glass.

Stark took longer than expected to grab his. When he leaned towards the table, his left shoulder made an almost imperceptible twitch, which was rapidly followed by a sigh of frustration. Having already seen warriors losing a limb in a battle, Loki rapidly understood that the man was still not accustomed to the sudden absence of his arm, and was experimenting some kind of phantom sensations.

" _Most of all, I want to get this smile off your face, once and for all."_

Disagreeable shiver down his back. Loki wanted to forget it, to hide it away. To a certain extent, he could. Stark could not.

The Midgardian raised his glass a little, interrupting his reflexion, then froze, visibly not knowing what he could add.

"To... Actually, I don't know, help me on this one."

"Ultimate irony?" Loki suggested; with the most innocent smile he could bestow.

"What makes you say that?" Stark frowned.

"Nothing. Which is why it is ironical, I suppose."

"Fair enough."

Clink of the glasses.

Loki immediately appreciated the taste of the alcohol. Flavoured and strong. This was exactly what he needed. He took a long look at the edge of the balcony. In the middle of the night, there was not much to see. What was he doing here anyway? Why could he not just come back to Morgan, lie down by her side and wait for dawn?

Because he could not. That was all. No valuable reason here. He simply could not.

"Thanks, by the way." Stark cut again.

"For?"

"Uh, saving my ass, and the world's." He replied, taking another sip.

A sardonic smile appeared on Loki's face. Saying that thing had changed was a euphemism, indeed.

"Same to you." He said, enjoying the content of his glass once more.

He could read in Stark's gaze the same incredulity than in his, the we-fought-to-death-not-so-long-ago-but-life-is-funny-right.

"Yeah, don't worry, feels weird too..." The Midgardian bitterly declared "But after all _that_ , seriously, who stayed the same as before?"

"Careful Stark, you are turning philosophical."

"Then, run, I mean, fly, when you still can. There's so much trouble ahead, I intend to finish that bottle, with your help or not."

"Even more trouble than explaining to the rest of the world that, despite what everyone will surely believe, it is not I who erased half of the population, and that putting my head on a spike will not change a thing?"

Loki immediately felt so relieved to say that out-loud. He had read that in Valkyrie's gaze, as well as in Thor's; _it's great to see you again but things are going to get so complicated..._

Yep. With Loki, it would always get complicated.

Stark re-filled Loki's drink, then his own. Took another sip. Sighed loudly and almost knocked his head against the wall when he leaned backwards;

"Fuck it." He mumbled.

Right. Fuck it.

* * *

"The magpie with green eyes. I knew it."

Loki, now in human form, nonchalantly leaning back against the edge of the balcony, could not hide his smirk. Of course, the archer remembered that detail. Although he hoped he would _never_ bring up the spider on the wall of Shuri's laboratory.

Presently, if Barton's posture indicated his readiness to react to any suspicious move, his hands were devoid of any weapon. Loki decided that this could be called a good start.

"I guess I wasn't clear enough from the start." Barton slowly began, his voice marked by a very controlled ferocity "One single look, one single step towards my wife or any of my children, and I swear, you will _regret_ it."

"No doubt about it." Loki tranquilly replied, not impressed the slightest "I wish no harm to you nor to your family."

"So, why are you here?"

"Because I owe you a debt."

Evidently, a cynical grin appeared on the archer's face. Loki had to admit, appearing alone, in animal form, right outside the apartment him and his kin were living in, and in the middle of the night, was probably not the best way to be credible.

"You do not believe me, do you?" The god of Mischief smiled.

"You bet! I must have hit harder than I thought."

Alright, this was getting ridiculous. Loki was trying his best to be patient, but this man was not making things easy.

"Careful, now." He reminded "My warning is as good as yours. Lay a hand on _her_ a second time, and I will make sure there will not be a third."

"Fine, got the message." Barton shrugged "Now that the introductions are done, should we get down to business?"

Loki sighed briefly and swung the coin. The archer caught it without even looking, still staring at him. He weighed up the golden item, no larger than his thumb, which edges were a little irregular due to its wear. Then, he allowed himself to examine it.

"I don't think the exchange rate for Asgardian money is very advantageous, here." He sneered.

"You may sell it if you wish so. In any other hand than yours, it will remain an ordinary coin."

"Hm. So, what does it do that's _not_ ordinary?"

"It calls me. Once, and only once. If you ever need my aid, I will answer, be it in a week, six month, or ten years."

Barton seemed less and less convinced, which made Loki more and more annoyed. Why did it have to be so _long_?

"Yeah, right. How can I even be sure that it'll be the case?"

"You have my word." Loki reluctantly added.

" _Your word_ is the worst guarantee ever."

Loki rolled his eyes. Of course, he had expected that same old tune.

"Making a promise is a radically different thing on Asgard than on Midgard." He deigned to explain "Contrary to humans, we simply cannot make a pledge to declare it null and void the second after. And, perhaps contrary to the majority of Asgardians _I_ do not give my word easily. But when I do, I stick to it."

Barton's look was becoming slightly less wary. He glanced at the coin again. On one side was engraved a representation of Yggdrasil, the world tree, and on the other, small letters from an alphabet unintelligible to Midgardians, but forming the words _Eternal Realm_. Oh, the irony. Asgard was nothing more than a cluster of pebbles floating across space and one of its remnants was a coin, which value was thus no more.

"I'll probably never ask for your help." Barton asserted.

"In that case, it is all the best for both of us." Loki acknowledged.

Indeed, not as if he especially wanted to see him again, furthermore to be of assistance.

"And how do I call you with that, otherwise?" The archer could not help questioning.

"Play heads or tails." The god of Mischief smiled.

"Seriously?"

"Very much so."

"Are you aware that we have things here called _phones_ to do this job?"

"I am perfectly aware of that." Loki replied.

Always better to do things his way, especially when it came to be indebted to someone. Barton seemed to have understood this all too well. This was probably why he was one of the Avengers Loki was now the least reluctant to talk to. In entirely different circumstances, maybe they could even have gotten along well. Maybe.

"Alright, then... Thanks, I suppose."

Barton turned his back on him, about to join his family. Loki sighed discreetly. After all, at this stage...

"I am sorry." He declared "For what I did to you."

The archer had stopped moving, and turned again to face him. On his face was understandably battling a horde of different impulsions, from the urge to say _yeah right_ , to something probably closer to _after all, you didn't backstab anyone yet_. For one or two very long seconds, both of them did not know what to add.

"Dad?" A child's voice suddenly called "Where are you?"

"Gotta go." Barton told "You too. I guess... You probably deserve some peace and quiet."

* * *

"Of all the things I never expected to see you doing, writing was definitely at the top." Loki observed.

"First time for everything, don't you think brother?" Thor smiled, before throwing his pen right at the god of Mischief's illusion.

It seemed Loki was not managing to fool anyone this night. Was this coexistence with the Midgardian heroes making him losing his touch?

Anyway, tricks were not really his priority, at the moment.

Nonetheless, the picture was quite exceptional. Loki had found his older brother in the dining room of the compound, alone at the large table in its centre (the god of Mischief had no words to describe how odd it was to sometimes find himself sharing a coffee with the Avengers in the morning), his face lit by one small lamp, and busy, indeed, writing.

"Where are you?" Thor questioned, hastily creasing the sheets of paper covered with ink, as he had noticed Loki's curious gaze "The _real_ you, I mean."

"Outside." Loki evasively answered "I was hoping we could... talk."

That was a fact, Loki was not the Earth defenders' official foe anymore. But that did not mean he had suddenly become their friend either. He perhaps had some cordial interactions with Stark and Banner (by Hell, should he add Barton to the list, now?!) but he could not deny there was still some kind of tension in the air when Morgan and him came across them as a group. All of this to say, if the Avengers' compound was far from being a prison, it was still far from a place where he felt he could speak freely.

"Mh. I need some fresh air as well." The god of Thunder admitted.

One second was enough for Loki to glance at the last piece of paper Thor had not folded yet. On it was scribbled a list of unconnected words, in what had probably been a frantic, uncoordinated fashion, which was making it hard to decipher; _blue light, Valkyrie, thunder on the ground, move away_ -

Thor angrily snatched away the sheet of paper before Loki could further read his calligraphy.

"Never short of intrusiveness, are you?" The king of Asgard bitterly taunted.

Loki looked away, frustration itching at the back of his throat, and made his projection vanish, suppressing the sight he had of the dining-room, and bringing him back at the entrance door of the compound.

Ah, Thor. Funny, what Loki had done because of this hot-headed fool of a brother, and even funnier, what he would do for this hot-headed fool of a brother. Thor had brought both the worst and the best in him. In a way, as unflattering as it may sound, Loki would not be himself without Thor, and he was pretty sure Thor would not be himself either without him.

The door opened, pulling him out of his reflexion, and revealing his brother, a tired look on his face.

"It seems no one is eager to sleep, tonight." Loki remarked.

"We can hardly blame anyone for that. How is Morgan doing?"

"She is not in need of my protection, if this is what you insinuated." Loki smirked, relieved to notice that Thor had progressively let go of some of his wariness towards her.

Both of them were walking away from the building, in the dark of the night. Last time Loki had checked, it was around one in the morning, and the pale light of the half-moon was not helping him much to distinguish his surroundings.

"Where are you leading us?" Thor interrogated, on a lighter tone.

"No idea." Loki shrugged.

"Let me suggest one."

His brother extended his arm and, a few seconds after, Storm-breaker answered the call. Bursting the door open. Literally.

Thor winced. Loki smiled. A voice Loki identified as Stark's emitted a distant _what the hell_.

"Well brother, if you have any destination in mind, I suggest we visit it immediately."

Thor grinned apologetically and raised his axe towards the sky. Loki was truly amazed. Storm-breaker could summon the Bifrost. He remembered the time when he thought that there was no more powerful weapon than Mjolnir.

However, what amazed him even more was the place that unravelled before his eyes, when the colourful lights dissipated.

Only then did he realize how eventful the last couple of weeks had been, for Thor. And only then did he realize that indeed, to his brother, it had only been weeks.

To Loki, it felt like an eternity since Odin had vanished, at the top of the cliff they were presently standing on. After that, he had been exiled on Sakaar by his deranged sister Hela, had rescued the Asgardians from Ragnarok, had been attacked by Thanos, and...

And the white, just the white, for _so long_. And then, Morgan. They had talked. Told stories, told jokes, told riddles, told revelations about the entire Universe. They had met Som. They had stolen one of the most ancient books ever written on Midgard. They had shared their doubts and fears.

They had gotten out of the white. They had loved each other. They had suffered in each other's arms. And then, sought revenge, by spying, and cheating, and lying. They had faced Thanos and the Infinity Stones.

And all of that, _all of that_ , had happened in the blink of an eye.

"He was right." Loki declared, hoping for Thor not to notice how close he was to break down "It _is_ beautiful."

"Feels like home." His brother added, in the same state than him.

Thor solemnly put his axe on the very rock on which they had contemplated the landscape, along with Odin. Like last time, a calm and steady wind was stroking the grass around them. The light of dawn was colouring the sea with some pink and orange tones.

"Home is wherever you want it to be." The too well-known voice answered.

Alright, alright. Now, there was pretty much nothing neither Thor nor him could do to refrain it. Loki barely felt the tears running on his cheeks when he saw the two figures in front of him. The first, who had just spoken, was wearing his battle outfit, Gungnir in his right hand, a proud smile on his face. And she was standing next to him, her armour on as well, and her sword by her side.

"You can see them, right?" Thor choked, his face marked by both grief and joy.

Loki nodded, unable to say anything.

"I could not be prouder of you, my sons." Frigga started.

"Mother, I... I am sorry..." Thor articulated "I wasn't here on time... I should have..."

Loki bit his tongue so hard that he felt the taste of blood in his mouth. He would always have this part of remorse in him, who knew that he was also to be blamed for his mother's death. But Thor had nothing to do with it. And yet, he felt like he could have, and should have, prevented it.

"No." Frigga smiled "You have _nothing_ to be sorry about. You have _not_ failed me."

"I am sorry, my sons." Odin said "I lied to you, pretending to protect you."

He had finished his sentence by looking at Loki, who thought his heart was going to burst with relief and guilt. _Finally_.

"Do not make the mistakes I made." His father carried on "Luckily, you have something I never had."

"What? What is it?" Thor frantically questioned.

"Each other." Odin smiled, before starting to fade.

"Wait, where are you going?!" The god of Thunder exclaimed, as both of their parents were slowly vanishing.

Loki firmly put a hand on his shoulder, indicating how useless it was to ask them to stay. He did not know where they were going either, but it was not a placed they could access. Yet.

Both of them stayed next to each other, not daring to say anything, just looking at the ocean. Suddenly, Thor made a move that took Loki completely by surprise.

His brother was hugging him, and that was not like the rapid and awkward embrace they had had after escaping the Ragnarok. It was much more intense, and Loki could feel that Thor was trembling.

"Loki..." He began "I am... so glad... that you are alive!"

The god of Thunder and the god of Mischief, protectors of Asgard, saviours of the Universe, and silently crying on each other's shoulder. Poetic picture? Maybe. Loki could not care less.

He was alive. _Alive_.

"I am sorry." Thor whispered, releasing the pressure around his shoulders "I am sorry brother."

"What?" Loki retorted, truly baffled "Why, by all the Realms, should you be sorry?"

Thor clenched his fist, before replying hesitantly.

"I can't remember properly. I just recall some confusing images, but I... I know I could have..."

Loki was starting to get the picture. So, that was the reason for Thor's strange list of words. The flashes he remembered, when he had been controlled by the Mind Stone. Some disconnected images, and, of course, blue light.

He could vividly recall his brother's blue eyes. And his readiness to harm him. To kill him, maybe?

"Oh, brother, when will you stop blaming yourself for what you did not do?" The god of Mischief chuckled.

"I should have resisted." Thor continued, gaze fixed on the horizon.

"But you could not." Loki cut "And neither could I."

His brother looked at him again, visibly not knowing what to say.

"The Mind Stone twisted my mind." Loki carried on "It fed on my resentment and increased it tenfold. But maybe, without the knowledge of its workings, I would never have been able to free you from its influence."

And in a way, as selfish as it may sound, Loki was glad his brother had failed. Thor was not only the mighty god of Thunder, he also had weaknesses. Everyone could fail, him included.

Thor turned towards the rising sun again, a feeble smile on his lips.

"So, it seems that you guessed right, brother. The sun truly is shining on us again."

"Did I say that, really?" Loki laughed "I do not even remember."

"Oh, and one last thing..." Thor questioned "The raven. It was you, right?"

Loki smiled, as he remembered the time when he had followed Thor towards the freshly crashed spaceship in Wakanda, then landed on a nearby tree, as his brother was taking care of the remaining Asgardians.

"This is the aspect of magic you never seem to get right, brother." The god of Mischief taunted "I am not _a raven_. Whatever the image, I am always Loki."


	51. It's just a story

The sun was setting. Thanos took a long, controlled inspiration, savouring the evening air.

The landscape was beautiful. Everything was there, even the perfume of the blossoming flower fields laying before his eyes. The Titan smiled, recalling the last time he had enjoyed such a peaceful moment. It was right before she showed up.

Morgan, then. Hissing little snake. To think that she had cowardly crawled behind his back, and snatched away a power that she did not, and would never, deserve.

He should have killed her from the start. Just as he should have killed the Liesmith.

Thanos sniggered, absent-mindedly fixing his left hand, where no more Infinity Gauntlet was to be seen. Did he care, truly? Yes and no. A part of him wanted nothing else than this never-ending, blissful life the Soul Stone was presenting him with, but another part of him, this invincible determination that had led him so far, would never be submitted, not even by Infinity itself.

His story was not over, and his name would remain engraved in the Universe's memory.

But indeed, he should have killed her. He should have killed both. To be fair, he had tried, but it seemed than they could even trick death. However, that also meant that they would live the life they deserved. A wretched, pathetic, shameful existence.

He should have killed _him_ from the start, and nothing would ever have gone awry…

* * *

"Master." The hoarse voice resonated in the vast void of the Sanctuary "Our _guest_ is here."

Thanos did not make the slightest move. However, his absence of gesture was not marking an absence of interest. Numerous were the carcasses, or beings that would have been better off as carcasses, which ended up on the Sanctuary. The reason for this had never been fully established. Was the Titan's domain close to a particular kind of wormhole that only attracted the most tortured scums of the Universe? Or was Space already full of much more deviant forms of life than he imagined?

Nevertheless, a light of curiosity had appeared in his eyes. Who had been lucky enough, rather, doomed enough, to emerge alive from such a journey?

The answer came soon, and with it, a very clear picture of what to make of it.

"You must be the mighty Thanos. I guess this is a meeting between fellow kings, then."

Petty words. And petty voice. The Titan did not even need to turn around to guess that the being hiding behind this ridiculous bravado was only living in his own fantasy, built on resentment and shame. When he did, he immediately saw that the self-proclaimed king he faced was just a scared and dishevelled boy.

And yet, Thanos was ready to listen. He had to admit, he was curious. How did such an apparently insignificant being survive the Abysses of Space?

"A king without a throne, I see." He disdainfully observed, his left hand clasping the edge of his chair, the right one still tightly closed "Nor even a kingdom to rule. Tell me, on what do you reign?"

He casted a severe glance below him. His messenger, the Other, was not hiding his smirk. Next to him, their royal guest was visibly not appreciating the position of inferiority he was faced with. He was wincing with barely contained indignation. Thanos grinned. If that was all it took to destabilize him…

"I was deceived by traitors. But the throne of Asgard remains rightfully _mine_."

This was becoming even more interesting…

" _Asgard_?" He repeated, sarcastically emphasizing the name "From what I have heard, the rightful king of Asgard is a little more… Imposing."

Fury shone even brighter in the boy's eyes. Thanos also noticed how physically frail he looked. He was swaying a little. And trying to prevent his breath from accelerating. That was probably the Abysses' doing. Or was it something else, that the void would only have brought to the surface?

"I am Loki. Heir of _Odin_."

He had almost spat the last word. It was so easy to see right through him. Behind the fragile mask of self-confidence which he had hastily put on, Thanos was reading nothing else than insecurity and obsession.

But he was starting to have a clearer picture.

"Enlighten me, then, heir of Odin." He ironically repeated "Why have you sought this meeting between fellow kings?"

His interlocutor seemed to regain a little bit of composure. Apparently, talking was an area that he was excelling in. Or that he thought he was excelling in.

"With your assistance, I will punish the conspirators who betrayed me." The Asgardian started "And once I retrieve what is justly mine, I will properly repay my allies."

This time, Thanos could not refrain a scornful exclamation.

"Ha! No wonder why you were cast out from your throne, small king."

"I will not… tolerate…" The boy raised his voice in anger.

"I have a suggestion for you." Thanos cut, suddenly raising from his throne.

The movement had taken the Asgardian aback. He had even made a slight movement out of apprehension, a foot ready to go backwards. And, obviously, he had ceased his boastful speech.

"I suppose you know about the ancient artefact you and your kind named the Tesseract, don't you?" The Titan continued "From what I have heard, it is on one of _your_ worlds. A human world."

And, as incredibly futile as it may sound, the so-called king still held onto his little show of pretension.

"I am afraid you have been misinformed." He smiled "The Tesseract is still secured on Asgard. Only with my help can you-"

"I will need a little more than your help." Thanos declared, a threatening smile growing on his lips.

There was one thing in the world that the Titan despised beyond reason.

Liars.

He started to walk down the stairs to arrive in front of his… ally. The word itself was laughable.

This time, the boy could not conceal the bright light of fright in his eyes. He was indeed dressed in what surely was a royal attire, but apart from that, he did not look like a ruler by any mean.

"I will need the truth." Thanos continued "And if you are not willing to give it to me, I will gladly take it from you."

He opened his right hand, to reveal the shining yellow jewel. Instantly, some ethereal rays surged from it, and directly dove into the Asgardian's eyes, masking their green colour with a blue glow.

Thanos heard the Other snicker as their once falsely confident visitor was now frenetically looking around him, his gaze marked by panic and confusion.

" _Where_ is the Tesseract?" Thanos slowly repeated.

"On… Midgard…" The boy articulated "Hidden on Midgard."

"Good." Thanos simply answered, closing his fist again.

The blue light in the Asgardian's eyes faded, and with it, whatever remained of his strength. He stumbled on one knee, heavily disoriented, breathing loudly and rapidly.

Pitiful.

Pitiful but useful.

"Find out exactly what can make him wish for a little visit on Earth." Thanos coldly ordered the Other, who solemnly extended his arm to receive the Mind Stone "You will have our assistance, small king. And I will be properly repaid."

Thanos watched with a mix of satisfaction and contempt, as the Asgardian walked out of his sight, still under the influence of the gem.

There were still strong beings around. Odin was too high a bet to engage in a direct fight, for the time being. But there had come the perfect tool. Strong enough to be a challenge to Earth, weak enough to be submitted, and confused enough to be bound by his own pride. A mix of rage, fear and delusion, ready to explode.

He just needed the right push.

* * *

"Father?"

The voice immediately drew him out of his thoughts. The Titan rose from the stairs of his wooden cabin and slowly started to walk towards the nearest flower field, a genuine smile on his face.

She was barely taller than the plants around her. Her hand was so tiny, he almost hesitated to grab it.

"I'm glad you came back." Gamora said, as they started to walk together.

"So am I, daughter." He sighed.

"Will you stay, this time?"

"Maybe." He admitted "After all, I have everything I need, here."

It was true. He had everything he needed. So did those who had fought him. Stark, Rogers, Quill… All had paid a price for their convictions. They had earned them.

Thanos contemplated the setting sun once again. As for Morgan and Loki, he hoped their life would be full of nightmares.

* * *

Life's unfair, right?

I mean, seriously? Thanos has a happy ending? Sort of, at least? He is the last being ever to deserve it, I hear some people in the background say!

But yeah, life's unfair. That's maybe what Nick Fury is thinking right now, upon entering the Avengers compound and stumbling upon Loki Odinson having breakfast with all the Avengers, save Tony Stark's left arm, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, who I remind you involve a living tree, a talking racoon, a blue cyborg and a grey Mr Clean. Plus, an unknown, seemingly normal dark-haired woman, who is trying very, _very hard_ not to burst out laughing because, and I totally agree, his face is priceless.

What do you mean, who am I? Well, you don't have to worry about it. For now. At this stage, I'm not really important. Doesn't mean that I'm not awesome though, I'm super-awesome, but right now, I'm not part of the story. I just tell it, which is still cool, mind you.

Anyway.

Is it the end? Should it be? I don't know, you tell me.

An ending doesn't mean there's nothing left to tell. What can I say? That the Universe is a mess and that it won't get better anytime soon, but at least it won't get significantly worse either? No one can be sure about that. For now, a mess it is. Fine for me.

Talking about the Universe, its Guardians (okay, not of the Universe, just the Galaxy, my bad) are probably going to explore it further it the foreseeable future. To look for the Stones, you see. Especially the Soul Stone. After all, one of them can sneak up on it pretty easily, now that she became invisible to its eyes.

I don't really like sad endings. Everyone gets so depressed. At least, the Guardians will stay long enough to get invited to Tony Stark's wedding. Ugh, I don't really like weddings either. Soppy. I hope Morgan and Loki can discreetly squeeze in and get everyone properly wrecked.

What are they up to, then, these untrustworthy, whatever that means, Morgan and Loki? Seems quite a rational and reasonable decision, doesn't it, to help Thor managing New Asgard, to enjoy a restful life, to take a break from chaos and confusion?

Meh. Oh well, if that's what they want...

Wait, haven't I forgotten, something? What about Loki, I hear you say, didn't he get his life dramatically shortened? Yes indeed, I remember, Thanos used the Time Stone on him, and it fed on his lifespan...

Oh dear. What does that make of him, now? Less than a god? But still, much more than a mortal? There's a word for that, I'm sure. Would you tell me? Rather, should I guess? Is it just Loki? Hasn't he always been Loki, anyway?

Hey, when I think about it, what about Morgan? Now that the Soul Stone is gone no one knows where, what should she make of Whatever-its-name? Looks like she's the one who makes all the compromises, by following Loki and the Asgardians. Sounds quite hard to handle. After all, she's far from being a goddess. But is she really human? Ouch, my head.

And Som! Where has this one gone? What's he up to? I'm sure he has some plan in mind, but he hides pretty well, that sneaky guy. Holy shit, I had forgotten that as well! Doesn't he also have powers, now? Come on, don't you recall the moment he helped Loki by getting out of the Soul World, thanks to Morgan's abilities?

Boy, I really wonder what they all are secretly planning...

Don't you? Is it the end, for you, or not?

The heroes saved the world, they can go home and live in peace. Sort of.

The villain has been defeated, he can dwell in hell and plan his revenge. If he wants to.

But what of the others? Those annoying disturbers, back-stabbers, liars, making everyone crazy and ruining the world one day to save it the next? What do they do? Where do they go?

Don't look at me like that, I don't know. Should it be told? Or should it be quieted? Only the listener will decide.

One thing for sure, tricksters will be remembered. Whatever they name. Wherever they go.

But for now, ...

Curtain!

* * *

 **Wow, more than a year since I started... First, a huge THANK YOU to all of those who took the time to drop a few words to say that they were reading my story and enjoying it. It really meant a lot to me as a writer, so thank you again so much, FanGirlForever19, Lonep, The Jingo, DTDerpy, SkittleLuvr.x3, Wasabimomi, Life's Glitch, WickedlyMinx and Person. And thank you, leeny len for your enthusiasm!**

 **AnadoraBlack, always on time for the update, loved your reactions, and sorry again about Tony's arm...**

 **Nayruh, thank you so much for your encouragements, your very detailed reviews were awesome to read and really helped me structuring this story!**

 **SoyBoy, I was delighted to witness your madness every time you were sober enough, or not, to write me a message.**

 **And of course, CurtisMcQueen8! Meeting you not only on this website but also for real is the greatest memory I can relate to this story! Thank you so much for all your tips! And people, go read her fanfic, _Beyond Magic, Mischief and Madness_ , it's awesome, I mean it.**

 **But let's face it, overall this story was not appreciated. Maybe because the themes I chose were badly handled, maybe because my writing style is poor, maybe because Morgan is not interesting, maybe because Loki is not well done, I don't really know, and now that it is over, I won't change the whole scenario. But even if few people liked it, those few were the best. Seriously, you guys rock! I was absolutely thrilled to read every single one of your messages.**

 **I enjoyed every second of writing and inspiration never left me. My head is always bursting with ideas, which lead me to start writing an original fiction. What is it about, some may wonder? Mythologies. Tricksters. Travelers. Chaos on a much bigger scale. If you want to know more, don't hesitate to send me a private message.**

 **All of this to say, I still don't know whether or not I will publish the sequel. If stories with one original character are already unpopular, this one would be the ultimate nightmare, as it would introduce many new people. I will not stop writing, but evidently posting takes much more time, and reviews are the only form of salary I can receive. I said at the very beginning of _Whatever-its-name_ that it's no big deal if no one wants to leave a review, and it's still the case. It's not important to publish either. After all, it's just a story.**

 **Just…**

 **A...**

 **Story…**

 **With a post-credit scene.**

* * *

Nick Fury was feeling his headache grow. So, apparently, twenty-three days ago, an alien named Thanos had turned half of all living creatures to dust. Then, the dusted had all been brought back by the Avengers, using the six most powerful artefacts in the Universe, the Infinity Stones.

All of that with the help of the very first invader of Earth, Loki.

Who was now telling some absurd stories about missing eyes or some shit with a space racoon.

Motherfucker.

"Wow. Who is _that_?!" The raven-haired woman exclaimed.

Yeah, the one who seemed totally normal and harmless and surely was everything but totally normal and harmless. She was gazing at the entrance door, with a look of both amazement and apprehension on her face.

He turned around.

"Hey, Nick. What exactly did I miss?"

A smile of pure relief appeared on Nick Fury's face. Now, things might start to get funnier.

"Nice to see you again." He said, before turning to everyone gathered in the entrance of the Avengers compound, looking at the newcomer with bewilderment "Avengers, I'd like you to meet Captain Marvel."

Loki and Morgan seemed a bit doubtful.

Good.


	52. Want to know more?

**What happens to Morgan and Loki?**

 **Rather, what happens to the Avengers, now that they have to deal with those unlikely alli- err, maybe not... Enem- no, come on, not that much... Frien- wait, anything else?!**

 **What happens next?**

 **Want to know more?**

 **Always good to start a new story!**

 **And it's a story about what happens next. Convenient, right? But it's not the "happily ever after" vibe. Should I be sorry? After all, everything has a price, and every fight leaves some scars.**

 ** _Whoever we are_. That's the name. That's it. So, still want to know more?**


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